In Love and War
by Blu Taiger
Summary: Prelude to 'the Best Seven Years'. Calvin and Susie are assigned to work on a report about the Civil War. Calvin gets an idea to use the time box to see the War for real. The two of them then find themselves in a very different civil war.
1. A Fateful Assignment

Well, as promised, I now present the first installment of the prequel to _the Best Seven Years_. As you may – or may not – recall back in the first chapter of said story, it says that while Calvin was nine years of age he and Susie became friends but doesn't really elaborate on that statement.

That was my main reason for writing this new story – to fill in the blank left there.

Also, this story will be a crossover – just not with Harry Potter

Oh yeah, **Disclaimer:** I do not own Calvin, Hobbes, Susie or any other character affiliated with the comic strip.

Now, without any further ado, I present _In Love and War_.

* * *

_tick_... _tick_... _tick_... _tick_...

Twenty eyes anxiously watched the clock hands make their sluggish journey across their face. It was Friday afternoon in Mr. Burges Fourth Grade History class – in a matter of minutes, the students would be free for the weekend.

However, Mr. Burges wasn't quite through with this particular class. He stood at the head of the room eying each student keenly. He was a large, broad shouldered man in his early forties. He spoke with a heavy German accent which he seemed to think made him hard to understand because he ended every other sentence with the words 'Does that make sense?'. Nevertheless, being a very large person often gave one a sort of commanding appearance; so when he cleared his throat, the class immediately turned their attention from the clock back to him. "Now before this class ends, I have a few assignments to hand out."

Groans sounded, but were quickly stifled.

"They are reports – oral reports that will be due one week from today, does that make sense?

"These reports will be five pages long on subjects of great events in American history. You will each have a partner in this endeavor; and due to the disastrous outcomes of the last assignment, this time _I_ will be assigning the partnerships."

The students watched apprehensively as Mr. Burges pulled a stack of paper from his desk and strode around the desk to the front of the class. He pulled a sheet off the top of the stack saying "The report on the Revolutionary War will go to Jason Thomas and Danny Moore." He handed the sheet over to one of the boys whos names he had called and pulled out another sheet. "The assassination of President Lincoln will go to Alice Spinnet and Jesse Hendricks." He continued on, bellowing out a couple more assignments and partners until. "Ah, my personal favorite, the Civil War. We'll give this one out to Susie Derkins..."

At the mention of her name, Susie's gaze shot upward at the teacher, clutching her pencil all the tighter.

"and she will be partnered with..."

This was it – the crucial moment. Susie crossed her fingers, hoping with all her might; she didn't particularly care who she was partnered with, just as long as it wasn't

"Calvin Mitchell."

A feeling of dread flooded Susie as Mr. Burges said the name. Why him? Why, of all the miserable luck did she have to be partnered with that lazy, no-account, careless, uncooperative _louse?!_ Mr. Burges placed the assignment on her desk, but she hardly noticed. She turned her gaze stiffly toward the desk where Calvin sat. He was leaning back in his chair, picking his teeth with a glazed look in his eyes. What was he doing?! Did he even realize what was going on? Did he _care?!_ Mr. Burges continued on giving out assignments, but Susie didn't notice. All she could focus on was that this assignment – and possibly her entire future – was doomed to failure.

* * *

The bell rang and the students galloped out of the room in their thunderous herd, charging toward their freedom.

And so it surprised Mr. Burges slightly when he heard someone speak. "What did I do?!"

He looked away from his papers to see Susie standing before his desk, her eyes wide and her expression pleading. "Uh, excuse me?" he asked.

Susie pressed on, spewing her words out at a mile a minute. "Did I offend you in some way? Whatever it was, I'm sorry! If this is about the note passing, I swear I won't do it again!!"

"Miss Derkins, _what_ are you going on about?!"

Taking a few deep breaths, Susie composed herself and continued. "Why did you partner me with that _Cretan?_ He never does any work and doesn't even care!"

"Well then, you'll just have to fix that." Mr. Burges said calmly.

"E, excuse me?"

"Let me put it this way, miss Derkins,... you are the best student in my class. And Calvin is... well,... not. I know he has potential, but he squanders it – letting all that talent go to waste, does that make sense?

"That is why I partnered him with you. He needs to learn a work ethic and you are just the one to teach it to him!"

Susie sighed deeply. "Mr. Burges, it just isn't going to work! Calvin and I have been partnered before and it was a complete disaster."

"Well," Mr. Burges went on with a slight twinkle in his eye. "It's been my experience that things never happen the same way twice."

Unable to conjure up any further arguments, Susie thanked Mr. Burges for him time and left the room; thinking that if things never happened the same way twice,then this had the potential to be a statewide catastrophe.

* * *

Calvin charged out of the bus doors as they opened. At long last, it was the weekend – he was free! He was positively buzzing with excitement as he cantered down the road to his house. Finally, two whole days without the cares of school – no books, no teachers, no studying, the world was his oyster (whatever that meant.) and all he had to care about was –

He was abruptly pulled out of his musing when he found himself violently yanked backward and slammed into the trunk of a nearby tree. Looking up, he was startled to see Susie glaring at him menacingly – her face reddened, her eyes smoldering and her breathing rapid and heavy.

"Uh,... hey Susie," he said tentatively, wary that she might lash out at him. "what's up – "

"You listen to me, you blithering Neanderthal!" she seethed angrily, thrusting her finger sharply under his chin. "I have worked far too hard on my school work to have it all ruined by the likes of you! If you want to fail on your own time, that's fine with me, but you - _will - not - drag - me - down - with – you!!!_"

Though he would deny it if asked, Calvin was more than a little frightened of seeing Susie's feral display of temper. He swallowed cautiously, trying to conceal any appearance of fear. "Wh – what're you talking about?"

"The assignment, doofus! We were assigned to work together on a project for Mr. Burges!! _Weren't you paying attention?!?!_"

"Yeah..." Calvin replied, his mind racing furiously. "We... were assigned to write about the... Gettysburg Address?"

Susie released her hold on him – her expression twisted into an infuriated sneer and her entire frame trembled before she exploded. "_SEE? YOU WEREN'T EVEN LISTENING!!!_ Max and Bridget got the Gettysburg Address, _we_ are writing on the Civil War!"

"Oh yeah, the 'ol blues and the grays – good times."

"Yes! And you had sure better pull your weight on this assignment – I do not want a repeat of the Mercury disaster!"

"Why did I have a feeling you were gonna bring _that_ up?" Calvin tsked.

"Let me make this perfectly clear." Susie growled dangerously. "Either you bust your butt on this assignment, or I'll bust your head!"

"Alright, keep your drawers on! I'll do this paper, it'll be astounding too – worthy of a Pulitzer!"

"_It better!_" Susie snarled. And to emphasize her point, she clapped Calvin hard on the shoulder before stalking off toward her own house.

"You just wait Susie," Calvin called after her. "this'll be the most thorough, most amazing, most – eh,... tantalizing report the school's ever seen! Scores of papers'll beg to publish it! It'll make your half look like it was copied from a textbook!" Once she was out of earshot, Calvin turned to his shoulder with a mournful "Oooo-oowww-w-w-w..."

After his encounter with Susie, Calvin high mood over the weekend had been completely shot down. He continued on his way – trudging now and muttering to himself all the while. "Stupid Susie, stupid assignment, stupid war... stupid Susie! Of all the miserable luck, why does this stuff always happen to me?!..."

At length, he reached his house and pushed the door open. "_I'M HOOOOooo_ooooh crap."

_WHAM_

Five hundred pounds of feline force met Calvin in the doorway midair at high velocity. The two bodies flew backwards rolling and tumbling through the front yard, casting up dirt and debris as they rolled.

"Woo-_hoo!_ Look how far we landed!" Hobbes, Calvin's best friend and tiger called once the two had finally stopped.

"_Ugh_ – get off of me, you hairy oaf!" Calvin grunted.

"Aww, did we get a face full of dirt?" Hobbes asked as he lifted his friend to his feet.

"_Can it Hobbes!_" Calvin barked, dusting himself off.

Hobbes was taken aback. "Sheesh, what's got your pants up in a knot?"

Grumbling, Calvin gathered his things and confided in his friend. "Mr. Burges just gave me the worst assignment in the history of like, ever." he said.

"Really? What is it?"

"I have to do a report on the Civil War!"

"Hm, the scoundrel." Hobbes mused. "... mm, what's so bad about that?"

"That he set us up with partners." Calvin replied.

"Oh, the nerve of him... what's wrong with that?"

"He partnered me up with Susie!"

Hobbes gasped. "That's terrible! Wait,... I thought you'd gotten over this whole aversion to girls thing."

"It's not that my partner's a girl!" Calvin practically shouted. "It's that it's _Susie!_"

"Oh, I see – why's that bad, exactly?"

Calvin looked at him in exasperation. "Come on Hobbes, you know what Susie's like – especially when it comes to school work! She's a nit-picking control freak; every little exact, minute detail has to be absolutely perfect, and if it's anything less, she freaks out! She was just reading me the riot act a minute ago – going on and on about how I had to an exceedingly good job or she'd have my head."

"Well that's a bit... vicious of her."

"Tell me about it – she'd like a little, brunette vulture. Well – no, really that isn't an accurate description. Vultures just scavenge off dead bodies, don't they? She'd be a more predatory type creature, like a lynx or a... hyena. Yeah, that's it! She's a little brunette hyena stalking after you, just waiting to rip you to shreds and crunch your bones!

"Hobbes, what am I gonna do?!"

"Hmmm," Hobbes thought for a moment. "When is the assignment due?"

"In a week." Calvin muttered.

"Well, I know this isn't the sort of thing you like to hear, but the thing for you to do is to get to work. There just isn't time for any delays."

Calvin paused for a moment. Then his expression brightened. "Hobbes... that's it!"

Hobbes immediately stiffened, all his senses going on alert. "... What's what?" he asked tentatively.

"I know how we'll get this assignment done! Great idea, Hobbes!"

"Uh, wha – whatever I said, it's probably not what I meant."

But Calvin had gone back toward the house, his exuberance fully reinvigorated. "Perfect – absolutely perfect! I'll have the best paper in the whole class, by golly, this'll show Susie up. Hobbes, you're a genius!"

Hobbes watched as Calvin scrambled all the way back to the house, his heart despairing. When the boy was back in the house, he slumped his shoulders and heaved a heavy sigh. "I gotta stop thinking out loud."


	2. The Least Efficient Means of Research

**A/N:** So, after I had posted the first chapter of this story, I received several notifications that people had added it to their favorites. Fancy that, favoring a story after only one chapter. Well, I suppose I should be flattered, but I can't help thinking it's a bit odd.

I mean, you can't really tell what direction a story's gonna take after just one chapter – who knows, I may come up with something you don't like. I know that one can usually confirm that an authors style will be more or less similar throughout their different works, but the chance will always be there.

Also, I stated in my previous note that this was going to be a crossover – but I didn't say with what. Who knows, it might be crossed with a franchise you people don't care for, or know nothing about. (though if I do this right, the latter shouldn't be an issue)

Well, I suppose you're all tired of my rambling, so on to the story! (Which, if you think about it, is really just me rambling some more....)

* * *

"Ready Hobbes?!"

"Am I _ever_ ready for these things?!" The two friends were sitting in a cardboard box with its open lid facing upward. Calvin was adjusting various imaginary knobs and switches and other doohickies while Hobbes sat glumly behind him with a sour expression on his face.

"Systems set, goggles in place. Ready for the research trip of the century?"

"Calvin, for once, couldn't you just do research out of books like _normal_ people?!"

Calvin ignored his friends lip as he prepared their vessel for take-off. "Ready for launch in five – four – three – two –"

"_WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!_"

Calvin jolted at the sudden shrill exclamation. Turning toward the sound, he found himself face to face with "Oh, hey Susie. How's it goin'?"

Sure enough, Susie Derkins was standing right next to the box with a binder held in her hand which was cinched so tightly it threatened to snap it in two and staring down at Calvin with a look of pure venom. "That's all you have to say for yourself?!" she seethed. "You're sitting in a box wasting time – _valuable time_ that you could spend _researching_ for our _project_, and all you have to say is _'Hey, how's it going'_?! Do you have no sense of penitence _whatsoever?!?!_"

"Alright, A: My voice is _not _that shrill. And 2: Research is precisely what I intend to do!"

Susie's eye twitched. "Research?!... How does sitting in your backyard in a cardboard box constitute as _research?!_"

"You simpleton!" Calvin exclaimed, slapping the side of the box. "_This_ is my time machine!"

"... Time machine?" Susie repeated, her voice dripping with skepticism.

"Yeah. See, while everyone else'll be getting their research out of their dinky little books – which you can only get _so_ much information from, _I_ will travel back to the past to see the events _as they happen!_ Which means I can gather much more information than anyone could from a mere book! And best of all, I have _all the time I need!_"

Susie gave a little _hmph_ when Calvin finished his monologue. She looked down at the box through narrowed eyes. After a moment or two, she looked back at Calvin. "It doesn't _look_ like a time machine." she said.

"Oh, and you know _all about_ what time machines look like, don't you!" Calvin snapped back.

"Like a blue phone booth, right?" Hobbes chipped in.

"_Don't even start._" Calvin grumbled back to him.

Susie watched Calvin talking to his stuffed animal as if he had made some comment. She rolled her eyes in exasperation – it was just like Calvin to slip into one of his delusional fantasies in the middle of something important. Honestly, it was like he wanted people to think he was a freak.

Susie sighed deeply. She knew this was going to be trouble right from the get-go. How on earth was she going to convince this little nut-case of the importance of diligent study? One thing she was certain of was that if she didn't do something quick, they were both doomed to failure. But what could she do? She could try knocking some sense into him – but she had always been taught that violence causes more problems than it solves; also, she knew from experience that Calvin had no qualms about hitting girls.

Then a new thought occurred to her. Maybe if she tried doing things his way, he might be inclined to try her way. It was a long-shot, she knew, but it was the best option she had at the moment.

"Alright, so when do we leave?" she asked.

"Well, we were about to shove off right n_-wait a minute, whaddaya mean_ we_?!_"

"I mean I'm going with you!" Susie said, lifting her foot over the side of the box.

"Oh-hohohoho, no you're not!" Calvin replied, moving her foot off the box again.

"Oh-hohohoho, _yes I am!_" Susie answered, pulling her face dangerously close to his.

"No! You can't! It's – erm, _bad luck_ to have women on board!"

"That's for _ships_! Besides, it's just a superstition!"

"Well color me superstitious, then!" Calvin crossed his arms defiantly. "Go spend some of your _valuable time_ researching!"

"Listen!!" Susie grabbed Calvin's shirt and pulled him right into her face. "My skin is on the line here, just as much as yours is! Now you are too irresponsible to be left to such an important task by yourself – "

"I resent that."

"Resent it all you like, doesn't change a thing!

"So, if you are going to do research – no matter _how_ you do it, _I_ am _going_ to go with you!"

"I agree entirely."

"Shut up Hobbes, nobody asked you!" Calvin pulled himself out of Susie's grip and turned an irate face toward the tiger.

"She has a point, Calvin. She's part of the project, so she needs to be involved in the process."

"_Be that as it may,_" Calvin grumbled. "We _don't_ have a set of goggles to spare!"

"Which is why I give up my own for her benefit." Hobbes said as he pulled the goggles off of his head and placed them in Calvin's hands.

Calvin looked up at his friend, slack jawed. "Huh?" he slurred.

"Yes, it will be difficult, being stranded here all by myself."

"Oh, no you don't!"

"But somehow, I think I'll manage." Hobbes nimbly hopped out of the box and started moving away.

"Wait, Hobbes – "

"Farewell, good luck, bon voyage, God speed an' all that jazz." Hobbes sauntered away with a definite spring in his step and a smug smile on his face.

"You can't just – oy," Calvin collapsed on the side of the box, heaving a heavy sigh that sputtered out through his lips.

Susie watched in confounded awe as Calvin started talking to his stuffed tiger and reacting as if the toy was answering him. She watched him pull the goggles off the tigers head and toss it out of the box all the while calling at it as if he didn't want it to go. Finally, he slumped onto the side of the box and heaved a dejected sigh. After a time, he looked over at her, rolled his eyes and grumbled "Well,... get in."

Still a little wary of him, Susie dropped her binder into the box and tentatively climbed in.

"Here, put these on." Calvin instructed, handing her Hobbes' discarded goggles.

"Goggles, why?"

"Susie, I am _not_ in a good mood right now and I _don't_ feel like having to explain everything! Just trust me when I say _you need to put them on!_"

"Alright." Susie answered, tartly as she put the goggles on and placed them over her eyes. She jolted when she suddenly heard some sort of engine revving. Frantically, she looked all around the yard for the source of the noise but found no vehicles – no engines or motors of any kind. As she looked around, she noticed that the trees seemed to be getting smaller – slowly but surely, they appeared to be sinking into the ground. But then she looked down and realized the trees weren't sinking, the box was rising!

"Calvin! Calvin the box is flying!"

"Uh yeah, that's kinda what it's supposed to do!" Calvin answered, a little annoyed.

"What? But,... how – how is this even possible?!"

There are undoubtedly a few of you who share Susie's concern – cardboard boxes don't simply start flying every other day, you know. And while some of you might ponder or demand an explanation, the truth of the matter is that there are some things in the world that defy all explanations.

"Relax Susie!" Calvin called back. "Everything's under control!" Looking ahead, he urged the ship forward, saying "Next stop, seventeen ninety two and the civil war!"

Susie looked up at Calvin, all fear she previously experienced vanishing. "The civil war didn't start until eighteen sixty one." she said.

Calvin paused for a moment. "I knew that!" he said. "Just seein' if you were paying attention!"

The box surged forward. As Susie watched, the scene before her started to change. Trees swaying gently in the breeze suddenly warped together forming a gigantic swirling pattern, like a great whirlpool. Before she could take it in, the box lunged forward and was swallowed by the streaming vortex.

Hobbes watched as the time machine launched off into the past. Turning back toward the house, he congratulated himself with a hearty chuckle "Well that settles that." he said to himself. "No trouble for me today, no sir! For once, I get a little me time without getting mixed up in one of his stupid shenanigans – though I do feel a bit guilty for leaving him stuck with Susie... ah, it'll pass! Besides, what's the worst that could possibly happen?!"

* * *

"_How on Earth did manage to land us on Easter Island?!?!_" Susie's demanded in an octave best suited for summoning dogs.

Calvin grumbled indignantly. He held a map, or timeline of sorts, in tightly clenched fists; carefully scrutinizing every detail, looking at every inch of paper, looking at it every way possible and doing it all over again.

"It's very complicated, all right?" he snapped back. "Honestly, time travel isn't like driving down the street, y'know. There's all sorts of complex navigations, split-second timing, and other... stuff..."

He turned the map over again, his expression falling. "Maybe we should've taken that left turn at nineteen twenty."

Susie blew a heavy breath out through pursed lips. Wearily, she trudged over to an enormous stone statue and slumped down beside it, arms crossed in frustration. "Well, this field trip has been _real_ productive." she sighed, bitterly. "I can't believe I actually thought this would be a good idea."

"Well, you got no one to blame but yourself!" Calvin chided.

"I know," Susie said, flatly. "which just makes the whole thing worse... just tell me when you get your little plans figured out."

Calvin folded his map up in a hot temper. "Y'know, if you're gonna be like this through the whole trip, I might be inclined to just leave you here with the eggheads!" he said, gesturing around all the various statues that populated the island.

"Moai!"

"Gesundheit!"

"No, they're ca – huh?" Susie paused mid-response, uncertain if Calvin was being clever or if he actually though _moai_ sounded like a sneeze.

"Okay, so I think I know where we went wrong." Calvin tossed the folded up map back into the box and pulled his goggles back over his eyes. "What we have to do now, is – " he stopped short as a low, loud humming sounded in the distance.

Somewhere over a distant hill, something big and black slowly dipped out from a low-laying cloud. As the object hovered, a smaller object dropped from underneath it and slowly came to rest on the ground. A brilliant, green light shot from the giant thing in the sky, hitting the object it had deposited. A moment paused and a great bead of light surged from the thing in the sky, traveling down the stream of light and hitting the object on the ground. Once contact was made, the object on the ground shattered into millions of pieces leaving behind a newly formed moai in its place.

Its work completed, the vessel in the air surged strait upward and out of sight.

Both children stared agape at the sight that they just witnessed.

"_I knew aliens were involved!_" Calvin snapped, resolutely.

"Uh, Calvin..." Susie whimpered nervously. "Could we go – like, right now?!"

* * *

A loud crack sounded and the cardboard box blasted out of the time stream carrying its two passengers through the new time period they had found themselves in.

Susie looked around their surroundings, trying to determine their currant position. "Do you know where we are?" she asked.

"Well, I know we're somewhere near water." Calvin answered.

Susie looked down at the vast sea that lay beneath them. "Great." she replied, dryly.

"Ah, chill out!" Calvin chided. "We'll find out where we are. Look, there's some cliffs over there! If we keep flyin', we're sure to come across some port or something where we can get directio – _HOLY_ --"

Calvin swerved the time machine abruptly just as a great, black something swooped out of the air right where they had just been.

The creature soared along, its massive wings carrying it along on the breeze without another regard for the strange vessel or its passengers. The two time travelers watched as it glided away, calling a forlorn cry.

"We may have gone a little too far back in time." Calvin said, softly.

"What tipped you off, the pterodactyl?!" Susie snapped in response.

"Don't you give me any lip, or you're walking home!" Calvin inhaled a deep breath, calming his nerves. "Okay, it's not a big deal. We just have to turn around, and we'll travel forward in time."

"Great, so turn us around, then!"

Calvin faced her with a sardonic smile. "heh, heh, no, you misunderstand. _We_ have to turn around!"

So after a long moment of squirming, struggling and protesting, the two children managed to switch their positions in the time machine facing the reverse end.

Calvin urged the box forward and it shot out, blazing along a mere foot above the surface of the waves due to a slow descent the box had undertaken while the two of them were changing positions. "Okay, now forward!" Calvin commanded. The box continued flying along, but it wasn't slipping back into the time stream.

"Forward!" Calvin cried again. Again, the scenery didn't change. They simply continued flying by over the surface of the prehistoric sea. "_Whenever you're ready!_" Calvin said to the box, looking down on it with his hands on his hips. As one could imagine, this didn't yield much of an effect.

"Aw, C_'mon!_" he yelled, hitting the side of the box frantically. "You can do it, come on, let's _GO!_"

"Calvin, look out!" Susie yelled.

"Huh, _WHOA!_"

Something big lifted its head out of the water almost directly in front of them. Naturally, they both freaked out and in doing so, Calvins foot struck the side of the box. This blow jangled the box in such a way that caused the time vortex to open and suck them in.

Calvin breathed a sigh of relief when they were safely in the time stream again, away from any present dangers. "Okay, that's it! No more distractions, no more side tracks! We are _not_ stopping again until we reach the Civil War!"

"Uuuhhh, _Calvin_," Susie squeaked, nervously.

Calvin turned around, angrily. "_WHAT_ – is... that?"

Floating along directly behind the box was a plesiosaur, the very same beast that had surged up out of the water in front of them, bobbing along completely unaware of its change of environment.

Calvin blew an impressed whistle at the beasts appearance.

"How did this happen?" Susie asked nervously.

"It must've been its proximity to us when we entered the time stream." Calvin answered after a moment. "It was so close to us when we activated the vortex that the time machine snared it in a temporal clutch."

"What? What does that even mean?!" Susie demanded.

"... I dunno, I just made it up." Calvin admitted.

"Well make up a way to get rid of it!" Susie snapped uneasily. She cast a glance behind them to see the plesiosaur seemed to have become aware of the two creatures in front of it and was now exhibiting a curiosity towards them. This did nothing to calm her nerves.

"Alright, looks like we'll have to make one last pit stop." Calvin grumbled. He took control of the time machine again and instantly they found themselves soaring over some new landscape. "Keep an eye out for any large bodies of water!" he shouted.

"_There!_" Susie exclaimed, pointing to a long strip of water in the distance.

Calvin piloted the craft in the direction Susie had pointed with the plesiosaur still in tow. Once they were over the massive lake, they found themselves presented with the problem of how to actually detach the beast.

Calvin arched the box downward and then swooped upward again mere seconds before hitting the surface of the water. This shook the plesiosar around a bit, but it did nothing to shake it off. Calvin grumbled at the creature then tried a new tactic. He pulled the time machine up and pulled a great loop; and still whatever force was holding the beast didn't weaken. He employed more maneuvers; zig-zagging, barrel roll, undulating waves, even a crazy Ivan and still the creature wouldn't separate. The only effect this all had was to cause the plesiosaur to bellow and seethe in protest.

"Calvin, I think the monster's getting mad." Susie whimpered as the plesiosaur looked at her with its mouth agape and a predatory expression on its face.

"I know, I know," Calvin retorted while he racked his brain for any possible solution he hadn't thought of. Finally, one last idea struck him. "Okay, I've got an idea!"

"Well, I'd love to hear it!" Susie yelled while holding the heavy binder she had brought along in a striking position in case the beast came too close.

"I'm gonna shut the engine off."

"Oh, good idea – _WHAT?!?!_"

"Ready?"

"_NO!_"

Calvin turned the time machine off. In an instant, the box with its two passengers and the plesiosaur plummeted toward the water.

Just as Calvin had anticipated, turning the time machine off completely severed the mysterious hold it had on the beast. And with the plesiosaurs much greater mass, it fell considerably faster than the two children. In almost no time it hit the water with a resonating _splash_.

A lone monk who had been making a pilgrimage and stopped on the shore of the loch to pray heard the splash. He looked up momentarily and, seeing nothing of interest, resumed his praying. After a moment, an odd sound like something rising out of the water caught his attention. Looking up, he saw a most unusual creature, the likes of which he had never seen before, sitting in the waters of the loch and looking at him curiously.

* * *

In an other place and time, Calvin and Susie pulled out of the time stream in another bid to observe the Civil War in action. Unfortunately, they had arrived in the middle of a torrential rain storm. "Oh, beautiful." Calvin griped, bitterly.

"Are we in the right place?" Susie asked as she watched the scenery blow by as best she could through the pouring water.

"Hard to say." Calvin answered. "Even if we get out of this rain, we'd still have to find out our exact location, then determine what year it is."

So they flew along for a spell, keeping a weather eye out for any landmarks or visual cues to where they might be, getting wetter and more miserable the whole time.

As they were flying, Calvin looked up and just happened to catch a glimpse of the underside of something large sailing through the storm. He quickly surmised what it was.

"... So, I'm guessing there weren't any airplanes during the Civil War." he stated.

"No, no there weren't." Susie replied.

"_Blast it all!_"

So they were obliged to switch positions once again in order to travel backward in time. Once again, they sped away, disappearing into the time stream. Neither of the time travelers were aware that before closing, the time vortex inhaled one last passenger – a lone parachutist who had jumped from the very plane they had just seen.

He was, understandably, bewildered to see the strange anomaly that had appeared just under him. He was so startled, in fact, that he dropped his briefcase. He could only watch helplessly as the thing he had gone through so much trouble to obtain fell hundreds of feet to the ground below while he and his parachute were completely swallowed by the swirling vortex.

* * *

"Okay!" Calvin exclaimed as he brought the time box to rest on a large hill. "This is it! We finally reached the Civil War, if my calculations are correct."

"Well _I'd _say your calculations could use some recalibrating." Susie said as she took in the surrounding landscape.

Calvin tsked. "Please Susie, I _am_ a genius after all. I'm absolutely positive we're in the right place."

Susie said nothing, but stared at him with a look that challenged his confidence.

"Alright, if you're so smart, where do _you_ think we are?!"

"Babylon." she answered smugly.

"_pfft. Babylon_, right! What makes you think we'd be in Babylon?!"

In answer, Susie pointed her finger down the slope to a great, massive walled city, and particularly to a huge, ornate portal that led into it. "Isn't that the Ishtar Gate?" she asked in mock innocence.

Calvin looked down at the structure, focusing on it as best he could. "Uh... well,... I guess – it..."

"And look over there!" Susie directed Calvins gaze to a large, very tall structure far off in the distance. "Wouldn't you say that looks like the Tower of Babel?"

Calvin looked at the tower for a great while before uttering a lone "huh." and moving to the other end of the time machine.

"Alright, here we go again." he said as he revved the engine and brought the box into the air again. "_Please work this time_." he added as he urged it forward once more.

* * *

Back in the time stream, Susie thought it would be the best time to bring up a topic that had been concerning her. "Calvin, is time travel always this hit or miss?"

"Well, it is an imprecise means of travel. But usually I can get it to arrive somewhere in the proximity I aim for. Honestly, I don't know _why_ it's acting up like this!"

"Well, when was the last time you actually _used_ it?"

"... A while ago." Calvin admitted. "But it shouldn't be doing this just because I haven't used it in a while, it should – hold that thought, we're comin' up on our destination!"

As the box pulled out of the time stream, both children were suddenly jolted in their seats by a solid _thump_. Cautiously, they peered over the side of the box to see what they had hit. It was then that Susie received the biggest shock of her life; sitting right in front of them were... themselves.

Susie simply couldn't believe what she was seeing. She quickly did a double take and – yes, it was all there. They were wearing the exact same cloths, had the exact same goggles, the exact same binder and were sitting in the exact cardboard box.

The Calvin in the box in front of them shook his fist in the air. "Watch where you're going!" he shouted.

"Why don't you watch where you're sitting?!" Calvin replied in kind.

Susie watched herself heave a heavy sigh and sink her face into her hand. "Calvin, what's going on?" she asked. "That's not really_ us_, is it?"

"Unfortunately, yes." the other Susie replied, her face still in her hand.

"I'm sorry, it's just that we were trying to get to the Civil War, and – "

"We know." the other Calvin and Susie interrupted.

"Uh, er, yes, but then we got lost, and we kept getting into all these – "

"We _know_." they said again, a bit more annoyance in their voices.

"Susie, that's _us_ you're talking to." Calvin said. "More importantly, _they_ are _our_ future! They know everything that we've gone through, they know _why_ we're here and what we're gonna do!"

"Yes." the other Calvin agreed as he turned back to his own machine. "Anyway, you're in the right place."

"Huh?" Calvin said, looking back at him.

"The Civil War!" the other Calvin said. "You're in the right time period. Just fly a mile or so in that direction and you'll get all the information you need."

"Oh." Calvin said. "Well, uh, thanks for that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." the other Calvin said as he piloted his box away and flew off into time.

"... That was more than a little disconcerting." Susie said in bewilderment.

"Eh," Calvin shrugged. "Stuff like that happens." He piloted the time machine off into the direction he had pointed to himself. "Alright, let's see history in action!"

**A/N 2.0:** Okay, I promise that next chapter is when the crossing will take place.


	3. More than Meets the Eye

Calvin and Susie did acquire all the information they needed for their paper. However, that has little to do with this story, so it will not be mentioned.

Susie strode along the pathway toward the location where the time machine was concealed. As she walked, she flipped through the pages of the binder she had brought which were now filled with notes. She chuckled a bit. "Man, I can't believe this worked. You actually had a good idea for once!"

"Hey thanks Susie," Calvin said from his place ahead of her. "It's nice to hear you say that, it really makes me feel – wait, whaddaya mean 'for once'?"

"It's just so incredible." Susie went on, either not hearing Calvin or ignoring him. "I never once thought that I'd ever use time travel to research a paper."

"Yeah, that's just one of the benefits of having a genius for a partner." Calvin said as he pulled away foliage, revealing the time machine.

"Hey don't get cocky,_ genius!_" Susie said, shaking her binder at him. "We're not out of the woods just yet – remember, we still have the actual paper to write!"

"Susie, re_lax_. Gathering notes is what we geniuses refer to as _'the hard part'_." Calvin said. "After this, writing the paper'll be a cinch!" He climbed into the box and placed his goggles over his eyes. "So ya comin' or what? Let's get a move on!"

Susie climbed into the time machine after him and the two of them set off into the time stream once more.

* * *

A loud crack sounded as a tear in the time stream opened up, regurgitating a cardboard box and two children out before closing again. "And here we are." Calvin said as he piloted the vessel down to the ground. "Home, sweet home!"

Susie took a glance around their surroundings, a concerned expression on her face. "Calvin, this... doesn't look like your back yard." she said.

"Huh?" Calvin puzzled. Taking a look for himself, he had to admit she was right, this was definitely not where they wanted to be. "Hmm, musta made a wrong turn somewhere." he pulled out his time line and looked over it again, trying to figure out where they had gone wrong.

"Calvin..." Susie said as she continued gazing about the area. "Doesn't this place look a bit... familiar?"

"'Course it looks familiar!" Calvin responded, not even looking up from the time line. "We're in a forest, surrounded by trees – everything looks the same here!"

"No, I mean this exact area looks very familiar – like we've been here before! But I can't think – "

_whumph_

Something struck the back of the time machine sending them forward a foot or two.

Susie knew what she would find when she turned around, and she loathed to have to face it. Still, she knew she would have to go through with it, so – perhaps against her better judgment – she turned around. And sure enough, sitting directly behind them, in a box identical to their own were themselves.

"_Watch where you're going!_" Calvin said angrily, shaking his fist at them.

"Why don't _you_ watch where _you're sitting?_" the other Calvin replied in like manner.

"Ooooh," Susie sighed, sinking her face into her hand. "_Here we go again._"

* * *

So the two of them went through the exchange with themselves once again and zipped back into the time stream in an attempt to get back home.

Susie looked back in the direction they had left. Her brows were knitted together and her expression was sickly. "I didn't think this was possible, but you've actually managed to take weirdness to an entire new level." she grumbled darkly.

"How's that?" Calvin asked.

"We just spoke to ourselves!" Susie exclaimed. "We had a conversation with our own pasts and you two were so nonchalant about it! You just took it so casually, like this was something that happened every day!"

"No, not every day." Calvin replied. "But it has happened before."

"How is it we were able to talk with ourselves, anyway? Shouldn't that've caused some paradox, or something?"

"No, if we were using the box as a transmogrifier it'd make us a pair of ducks. But since we're using it as a time machine, - "

"Not pair of _ducks_," Susie seethed. "a _para__**dox**_! You know, like a fluctuation in the space-time continuum that could destroy the entire universe?"

"Oh." Calvin breathed. "Well, I guess those don't exist.

"But, y'know, it really is fortunate that we ran into ourselves, otherwise we might never've found the right time period."

"Yeah, about that." Susie mused. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"How did you know we were in the right time period?"

"Simple, I told myself so!"

"Yes, but how did you _know?_" Susie demanded.

"Look, back when I was past me, future me told me that we were in the right time. So when _I_ became future me, _I_ was able to tell _past_ me that _they_ were in the right time – because I remembered future me telling me so back when I was past me!"

Susie stared at him, limbs slack and eyes boggled. "But, but... where did the knowledge _come_ from? If you learned it from him but he only knew because _you_ told _him_ so back when he was_ you_ and you knew it because he told you so and you – he it... that – was... _oooooooh, my head._" she bend over, placing her head between her knees and rubbing her temples.

Calvin snickered. "Welcome to the wonderful world of time travel!" he said.

Susie's head popped up suddenly. "Hey Calvin?"

"Yeah?"

"The direction we travel through time depends on which direction we face in the box, right?"

"Mmm-hmmmm..."

"And we first had that conversation with ourselves before we were setting for home – that means, for us to have appeared in that place again, we had to've gone _back_ in time."

"Riiight..." Calvin agreed.

"And we didn't change directions afterward, so that has to mean – we're _still_ going _back in time!_"

"... Huh." Calvin grunted, plain and simple. "Yeah, I guess it would.... I really oughtta get these ends labeled one of these days."

"_Calvin, what do we do?_"

"_Relax._" Calvin ordered. "It's not that big a deal. We'll just pull out into whatever time we're in, pull over, turn around and _then_ go home." And so he maneuvered the time machine out of the slipstream. The two time travelers soared out through the sky in this new time period. Below them, a vast swath of green, the canopy of a massive jungle, stretched out in all directions.

Calvin angled the box downward and the two of them found themselves plummeting to the ground in a steep incline.

Susie looked over the side of the box, watching dully as the mass of green drew ever closer. When they came so close that she could make out the different trees in the canopy, she turned to Calvin saying "Okay, I think you can slow down now."

Calvin kept plunging the box downward.

"Seriously, Calvin, we're coming in too fast! We need to level out!"

Still Calvin ignored her. Susie looked out again to see the trees were close enough that she could see the individual leaves on their branches.

"_Oh no!_" she gasped as she braced herself for impact.

The time machine burst through the canopy branches and fell toward the undergrowth. Before hitting the ground, Calvin steered up and away. They sped along as the time machine coasted to a stop. Calvin piloted the craft superbly, bobbing and weaving through the trunks and branches of the jungle wherever they came up.

At length, the box finally slowed to a steady pace as Susie sighed a deep, shivering breath of relief. "That was about the scariest minute of my life." she breathed.

Calvin chuckled. "_Heh, heh, heh,_ you totally thought we were gonna crash!"

His joyful revelry was cut short when the time box wedged itself into the crook of a tree. To make things worse, the speed at which they were moving was sufficient to toss the two passengers out of the box and plummeting downward.

You may call this next part divine intervention, you may call it sheer happenstance or you may call it dumb luck, but beside the tree they fell from, a deep river ran its course. And it was into this river that the two children found themselves landing.

Calvin heaved himself out onto the riverbank, soggy, muddy and disheveled. He shook himself – in a way he'd seen Hobbes do many times before – and rubbed his hands down the lengths of his arms and body trying to remove some of the excess water.

He looked up to the tree they had crashed into. The time machines was still there, tightly lodged in the branches. What's more, he hadn't quite noticed when he fell, but down on the ground he noticed just how high up the box was.

"Well, that's just beautiful." he said, dully. He winced as something struck him sharply on the back of his head. Turning around, he saw Susie standing behind him soggy, muddy and irate.

"Nice going, you _twit_!" she snapped angrily. "Just look what you've done!"

"Oh, like this is all _my_ fault!" Calvin barked in reply.

"Uh, yeah it kinda is!"

"You could've _told_ me there was a giant tree in the way!"

"_You_ should've been paying attention to where you were going!"

Calvin opened his mouth to retort, but found he didn't have a compelling argument. Susie grinned, choosing to interpret this as a sign of defeat, and strode away.

"Well _you_ – " Calvin snapped back before realizing she had left. He turned at the sound of foliage brushing aside.

"Oh, thank goodness. Here it is." Susie said, bending over near a patch of tall grass.

"There what is?" Calvin asked, strolling up behind her.

"My binder, I thought I'd lost it in the river." she said, looking back at him. She turned back to pick it up. "I can't imagine what would happen if we had to do this all over aga – _EEK A RAT!_"

Susie jumped back quickly, grabbing onto Calvin's neck for support. Calvin suddenly found himself holding Susie in an awkward bridal position. Looking down, he noticed a shaggy lump of brown fur scurrying away through the undergrowth. In his arms, Susie was watching the same lump of fur keenly while breathing heavily.

Calvin couldn't believe this was happening.

"Susie, _it's a RAT!_" he barked.

Susie turned a breathless face toward him. "I can _see_ that, Calvin!"

Calvin dropped his arms, letting her fall unceremoniously to the forest floor. "You gotta be kidding!" he groaned. "You're afraid of _rats?_ That has to be the lamest thing ever!"

Susie glared at him while picking herself up off the ground.

"I gotta admit though," Calvin went on. "Seeing you get scared like that was pretty hysterical!"

"I wasn't _scared_," Susie denied. "It – just startled me is all."

"_You jumped a foot in the air!_" Calvin countered. "Don't _even_ try to deny it, that thing scared you!"

Susie bowed her head, sighing deeply. "Alright, I'll admit I was scared. Happy now?"

"Quite." Calvin said, still snickering. "That has to be the lamest fear ever, though. I just can't see how somebody could actually be afraid of mice."

"You really wanna know?" Susie asked.

"Huh?"

"Do you want to know why I'm afraid of rodents?" she reiterated.

Calvin contemplated for a moment, then shrugged saying "Sure, why not?"

"Okay..." Susie took a moment to compose herself and gather her thoughts. "Have you ever seen that movie, 'the Princess Bride'?"

Calvin glanced at her blankly. "The – Prin_cess... Briiiiiii – does that_ sound _like something_ I _would watch?_"

"Well actually, it probably is a movie you'd enjoy." Susie said. "It has sword fights, monsters and lots of humor."

"... That does sound like my kind of movie." Calvin complied.

"Well anyway, there's this one scene where they're in this huge swamp and the guy gets attacked by an R.O.U.S, and then – "

Calvin balked. "_Rous?_" he quipped. "What the heck's a rous?"

"Rodents Of Unusual _Size!_" Susie heaved. "They're these big, grotesque rat-like monsters that attacked the guy and fought with him! And ever since I saw that scene, the mere sight of any rodent causes me to freak out!"

"Ha, not true!" Calvin squawked.

Susie looked up at him shrewdly. "What are you talking about?"

"You say any rodent scares you. But, remember Peaty?" Calvin said condescendingly.

"Peaty...?" Susie asked.

"The hamster in Mrs. Higgin's class! You love that little guy! You're always watching him and fawning over him and cooing when he runs on his little wheel...."

"But,... he's a _hamster_." Susie pleaded.

"Ah, ah, ah – he's _still_ a rodent!" Calvin wagged a chastising finger at her.

"Oh, alright." Susie sighed. "Any rodent _except_ hamsters – "

"What about squirrels?"

"Fine, and squirrels."

"And chipmunks?"

"...... Well,"

"And gerbils? And guinea pigs? And voles? And gophers? And chinchillas? And woodchucks? And porcupines? And beavers? And Capybaras – "

"_Okay!_" Susie shrieked. "It's just rats and mice that scare me! Happy now?"

"Sure thing." Calvin chuckled as he turned and strode away. "Rodents of unusual size – _honestly!_"

He sauntered back over to the tree that still had the time box firmly lodged in its branches. "Now," he mused while stroking his chin, "how are we going to to get that down?"

They spent the next few moments contemplating and attempting various means and methods of getting the box down. First they tried climbing up the tree. Unfortunately, the trunk was too big around and the surface too smooth to get a decent hold on. They also tried climbing on each others shoulders to reach up to it, but even with the added height they couldn't quite reach.

At length, they decided the best course of action would be to throw rocks at the time machine in the hopes that they might dislodge it from the branches.

Calvin hefted his rock, stretched himself, took a few practice wind-ups, swung back and threw with all his might – only to have the rock fly horizontally out of his hand, hit the trunk of the tree with a _whack_ and fall to the ground with a dull thud.

"No offense, but that was kind of pathetic." Susie said from the sideline.

"_Oh yeah?_" Calvin countered. "I'd like to see you do better!"

So Susie took up the rock Calvin had just thrown, tested its weight a bit, reached back and threw. The rock shot high through the branches, up past the box and clear over the top of the tree.

Susie turned to Calvin with a hint of a smirk playing on her lips.

Calvin looked back completely incredulous at what she had done. "_... Well, you still missed._" he muttered.

In the distance, the rock came down with a audible _thump_ followed by a hoarse moaning sound.

Both children stood stock still when they heard the strange sound. "... What was that?" Susie squeaked.

Calvin didn't know what it was, but he had an unnerving feeling they were about to find out.

Sure enough, the _hush_ of foliage brushing aside sounded and a huge, shaggy boar poked its head into the clearing.

Both childrens eyes bugged out and their limbs went ridged at the beasts appearance.

Susie gulped. "_Whadda we do?_" she asked frantically, looking at the monstrous pig who stared back at them through wicked, black eyes.

"Just back away, slowly." Calvin whispered, placing his hands on her shoulders and gently leading her backward.

They continued tentatively backing away from the boar, never for an instance taking their eyes off of it. The boar, likewise, kept watching them ominously as they moved away from it.

"_He keeps staring at me, it's like he knows I threw it!_" Susie uttered in an anxious whisper.

"_SSSSHHHHH, just keep moving._" Calvin urged.

They kept on their nerve-racking trek, both trying their very hardest to remain calm. Well, as calm as two young children can be with a giant pig staring at them menacingly.

Then the boar charged.

Calvin and Susie turned on their heels and sprinted away as fast as their legs could carry them. They breezed through the jungle, trampling through foliage, dodging obstacles and crisscrossing around trees – always with the sound of the boars huffing never far enough behind them.

At one point, Calvin looked behind himself to see that the boar had tripped and stumbled. He took courage at this, as it bought them a bit of time – not much, granted, but every little bit counts when lives are at stake.

Up ahead, he saw a place where the terrain sloped downward. In that instance, he made a plan and decided to act on it. "Susie, follow my lead!" he yelled then jumped off the ledge. He stumbled down the earthen wall, rolling the way he'd heard was supposed to be done. After a time, he landed on the mossy floor below.

Looking up, he saw that Susie was still standing on the upper ledge. "C'mon, what're you waiting for?" he called up at her. "_Jump!_"

"_Are you crazy?_" came the reply.

"Oh, come _on!_ It's not that bad!" he shouted back. "Just _jump!_"

"Calvin, this has to be the most idiotic idea you've ever – "

"Here he comes!"

Susie shrieked and jumped a hairs breadth away from the boars impaling tusks.

She rolled down the slope in an imitation of what Calvin had done – though she bumped and stumbled most of the way.

Calvin, on some sort of impulse, ran up to catch her as she fell. And when she came to the bottom, she landed right on top of Calvin, knocking them both to the floor. Quickly they looked up toward the ledge – the boar, it would seem, had lost interest in them and wandered off.

Breathing heavily, the two children shakily got back on their feet.

"Well," Calvin wheezed. "I suppose we ought to get back to the time machine."

"Agreed." Susie huffed, dusting herself off. "Ummm," she looked around the area they had found themselves in. "Where, exactly, is it?"

Calvin looked around the surrounding area as well. After glancing around for several moments, he had to face the realization that he didn't know where they were, or what direction they should take. "......... Ah." he said, dejectedly.

Still, Calvin hated to admit that he wasn't in control of the situation. So he picked a direction and started walking.

Susie didn't know if this was the best course of action. But she didn't have a better plan so she trotted after him.

Calvin trudged along for quite a while. He did know what direction they had come from, so deciding to backtrack along that rout had been a simple choice to make. But unfortunately they had made several turns and quick movements through the jungle that finding his way was no longer such a simple solution. What's more, he had the strange sensation that he had seen the very area they were traversing through before.

Finally, Calvin came to a stop. "Okay," he said after a time. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"You mean to say you don't know where we are?" Susie replied. Her tone sounded understanding but still with a slight edge to it.

"... Basically."

"I see..." Susie sighed, heaving her shoulders. Then she turned and went toward the jungle foliage. She started taking up leaves and branches and anything else she could scrounge up.

Calvin watched this activity, perplexed. "Susie,... uh, what're you doing?"

"Putting up a shelter!" came the reply.

This perplexed Calvin further. "Why?"

Susie sighed again, rolling her eyes. She turned around and pointed to the sky. "You see that?"

Calvin looked where she was pointing. "What, the sun?"

"The _setting_ sun!" she reiterated. "It'll be getting dark soon and we won't be able to get back to the time machine before then."

"Well, aren't we a little, black raincloud?" Calvin interjected.

"I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being realistic!" Susie countered. "The facts are; we are lost in a jungle – probably miles away from any sort of civilization – with no clear way back to our time machine! That, and the sun is setting and most predators are most active at night! If we wait until it gets dark to do this, it'll be too late!"

"Alright already, sheesh!" Calvin interrupted. "D'you even know how to set up a shelter?"

"Sure, my dad used to take me camping, I'm certain I can put something together. In the mean time, why don't you go collect some firewood."

Calvin rolled his eyes belligerently. But still, he turned about and trudged off into the jungle with unintelligible and undoubtedly profaned mutterings lurking out of his mouth.

Within a few moments, Calvin came back. Susie noticed he didn't so much as a single stick in his hands. But she didn't quite catch the wide-eyed, slacked-jawed expression on his face.

"Uh, h-hey S-Su-S,Sus-Su-Susie?"

"Hmmmm?" she hummed, not looking up from her work.

"Ra, r,r,r-Remember those rodents of unu-use-u,usual s-size?"

Susie cringed. "I try not to."

"Yeah, well I, I-I think I ju-j,jus-just s,s,s,saw one." Calvin gestured a pointing thumb over his shoulder toward the foliage he'd just come through.

Susie paused a moment, then turned to face Calvin with a mocking sort of smile on her face. "Uh, huh, real mature Calvin. Yes, let's _all laugh it up at Susie_ because she's afraid of _mice!_"

"I'm not kidding Susie, it was a _really big RAT!_ It was, like, _this_ long!" he spread his arms out as far as they could. "_And that's not including the tail!_"

"Whatever, Calvin." Susie blew him off. "I suppose it was just too much to hope that you might show a little decorum for such a – a – " she stopped short.

Out from under the low-laying brush, crept a rat – enormous as Calvin had described. The creatures whiskers twitched as it looked up at Susie with its beady eyes.

Susies mouth fell open in a silent scream – which then turned into an audible scream. _"AAAAUUGH! It's huge – get it away from me!"_ she sprang and scrambled like a caffeinated monkey away from the rat and climbed onto Calvins back. "_Getitaway! Getitaway!_" she shrieked frantically.

"What the – what'm I suppos' t'do?" Calvin gasped through Susies vice-like hold while trying to keep his balance.

"Throw something at it!" Susie barked.

Carefully, and with some difficulty, Calvin picked up a large rock and hurled it at the oversized rodent. "_Shoo!_" he snapped.

The rat dodged the rock as it assaulted him. A second rock also missed by mere inches. But the third rock met its mark, hitting the giant rat square in the head with an audible _smack_.

"HEY!"

Calvin abruptly stopped in the mid-swing of another assault. Both children stood stock still and stared awkwardly. The rat had just spoken.

Said rat strode forward to the two time travelers in an angry huff. It stood up on its hind legs and pointed an irate finger at them. "Don't go throwin' things at people, kid! It's a good way ta get yourself in a lotta trouble!" it said, testily.

"... Calvin,... the rat's talking." Susie squeaked.

"Yeah,... yeah I noticed."

" – _Make it stop!_"

A soft padding sounded in the distance. With a hush of foliage moving aside, a lithe, golden cheetah sprang out of the jungle. "What's all the shouting about?" the cat said, in a voice that sounded much like an adolescent. "Whoa!" his eyes widened when he saw Calvin and Susie. He crept up to them in a curious manner. They unconsciously skidded away as he drew close. "You guys are humans, aren't you?" the cheetah said – more of a statement then an actual question.

"Uh... yes." Calvin replied. "I'm Calvin Mitchell, this is Susie Derkins."

"_Don't tell them my name!_" Susie hissed in his ear.

The cat raised his head, with something like a grin playing on his lips. "Cool. Well, I'm Cheetor and this is Rattrap!"

"Heh. Yeah, we met." the rat – Rattrap added bitterly.

"We've never seen actual humans around here before." Cheetor turned back to the children. "Where, exactly, did you come from?"

Calvin regarded the strange animals for a moment. It probably wasn't a good idea to say too much – he had no idea if they could be trusted. Still, there was something about the way Cheetor looked at him, an earnestness about his expression without a trace of malice – much like the way Hobbes looked at him.

Perhaps it was this comparison to his lifelong friend that compelled him to respond. "We, we're not actually from around here.

"We set out to do some research, but we got lost along the way. Then our time machine crashed and this pig chased us away and we got even more lost, so – "

"Time machine?" Cheetor interrupted, suddenly alert.

"So _that's_ what that was." Rattrap added.

"W-w-what do you mean?" Susie asked as she finally climbed down from Calvins back.

Rattrap turned his beady eyes at her. "Eh, about an hour ago we saw something fall outta the sky."

"We thought it might be a stasis pod." Cheetor added.

"..._ Right_. So we followed it to where it should've landed, but didn't find anything."

"Well, in all likelihood, that probably was us." Calvin said.

"Really...." Cheetor nudged Rattrap with his paw and jerked his head behind them. The two creatures turned around and began quietly conversing with each other.

Calvin and Susie were both anxious during this time. Susie was anxious that any moment these strange beasts would turn around and attack them. Calvin was anxious with curiosity for what they were saying.

Soon enough, they turned back to face them. Rattrap stood on his back legs and put his front paws together in a business-like manner. "So, uh, you kids got a place to stay?" he said, sounding like one of those greasy salesmen Calvin always saw on t.v.

"... _Not_ really, no." Calvin replied. Susie was starting to wish he wouldn't be so forthcoming with his responses.

"Well, you could come with us." Cheetor said. "Our base isn't far from here, we could get there under half an hour." he and Rattrap moved off a pace, sort of an enticement for the children to follow.

Calvin looked at them a bit, then shrugged and started toward them – until Susie abruptly pulled him back. "_What are you doing?_" she whisper-yelled at him.

" – They said we could stay with them." he replied.

Susie held her hands up claw-like with her teeth bared before dropping them exasperatedly. "_Calvin, they're_ animals! _If they say_ anything_, you should SHOOT THEM!_"

"_Well, what else can we do?_" Calvin countered. "_Do you really wanna spend the night in some primitive wigwam?_ I _sure don't!_"

"_The whole idea of the shelter is to keep us_ away_ from predators, not to go following after them!_"

"_Look Susie, in all honesty, if we get eaten by talking animals, it won't be any different than being eaten by animals that don't talk!_"

"_It's still a bad idea!_"

"_Look, if they wanted to eat us, they've had plenty of opportunity to do it already!_"

"_Say what you want, but I'm not going anywhere with those monsters!_"

"Fine! _You can sleep in the trees with snakes and bugs, if you want, but_ I'm _going with_ them!" and with that, Calvin tromped over to where Cheetor and Rattrap sat patiently waiting.

Susie looked after him with seething eyes. Then she paused, looking about her surroundings. Perhaps it was the thought of Calvin actually abandoning her, perhaps it was the ominous shadows the fading light cast throughout the jungle or perhaps it was Calvins mention of snakes and bugs, but something prompted Susie to hurry after him.

The four of them trekked on, Rattrap and Cheetor leading the way followed closely by Calvin and Susie who was sure to keep a good distance between herself and Rattrap.

The going was calm and slow at first. But the two time travelers were about to find out that Cheetor and Rattrap weren't the only ones attracted by their decent from the sky.

Calvin turned his head about, gazing around at all the scenery around them when something caused him to pull a double-take. It must have been a trick from the light of the falling sun, but he could've sworn he had seen a hint of red in the sky. When he turned around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. A soft noise, like a flapping, caught his ear. And when he turned his head again, what he saw shocked him.

Up in the air, a large red creature breezed along behind them. Calvin knew this creature well – but it shouldn't be there! If they were in a period of time when cheetahs existed, then surely there shouldn't be any pteranodons still living. But he couldn't deny that's what he saw.

The pterosaur glided behind them like an enormous kite. And it eyed the little party shrewdly. As Calvin watched, the pterosaur dropped from the air and swooped at them with alarming speed.

Just before Calvin could cry out, Cheetor yowled and lunged at the pteranodon just as it came in reach of Calvin.

Cheetor snarled and bit into the winged monster with his fangs and claws while the pteranodon shrieked madly and beat its wings an a furious attempt to shake its attacker. With a wild shake, the pterosaur dropped Cheetor to the ground then rose to the air, circling them like a vulture.

"Oh _man!_" Rattrap griped. "_Figures_ the Preds'd show!"

On an Impulse, Susie rushed over to Calvin and they held each other as the frightening scene unfolded. The pteranodon endlessly circled above them, eying them menacingly, Cheetor snarling at the flying beast, Rattrap tensed, ready to spring into action if called for, and in the background, a loud buzzing sounded. The children turned to look and gaped as a gigantic wasp zoomed out of the trees and joined with the pterosaur in the air.

As all this unfolded, Calvin thought this whole scenario couldn't possibly get any weirder. But the sound of two words told him it could.

"Cheetor, _maximize!_"

* * *

**A/N:** And thus we have the big reveal! This story is crossed with Beast Wars. And the obligatory second **Disclaimer:** Beast Wars is property of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. I don't own any of the franchise. I _do_ own a couple Beast Wars action figures, but that's beside the point. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter when Calvin and Susie learn that there's more to these beasts than meets the eye.


	4. Robots in Disguise

_Beep_

Hobbes paused in the act of incorporating an afro-style rainbow wig on the image of Captain Napalm to glance at his watch. He turned back to the drawing, but suddenly snapped back to the watch. He tapped the face and shook it a bit, then looked at it again. It still read the same time.

"That can't be right." he said to himself.

He rushed out of the room and down toward the kitchen. He took a good look at the clock mounted on the wall; it read the same time as his watch.

"That _can't_ be right!" he said a bit more frantically now.

If the clocks were to be believed, then Calvin and Susie had been gone for nearly three hours. Something must have gone wrong, even Calvin's sense of timing wasn't _that_ bad. Hobbes hurried out the door and ran all over the place searching everywhere he could think of where they might have ended up.

He searched hight and low, through every bush, around every rock, both around the house and through the neighborhood. After a time, he had to admit that Calvin and Susie were nowhere to be found. Tired and dejected, he slumped down beneath the large tree in the back yard.

"I just hope he isn't getting into trouble." Hobbes said to himself. "Oh, what am I saying? This is Calvin we're talking about, the fact that he'll get in trouble is a given – I just hope it isn't anythig too serious..."

* * *

"Cheetor, _maximize!_"

Calvin turned to look at Cheetor and jumped back as the cheetah rose onto his hind feet which became thicker and more mechanic looking; his forelegs folded over behind his back, a new set of arms burst our of his chest and his head folded over to cover the cavity left behind.

Calvin and Susie both stared in astonishment – in the blink of an eye, they had witnessed what looked like an ordinary cheetah transform into a humanoid robot.

"Rattrap, _maximize!_" The rat also underwent a transformation; his feet spread out to his side as new arms and legs appeared from underneath and his head folded down to form a breastplate.

"Terrorsaur, _terrorize!_"

"Waaazzpinator, _terrorize!_"

Up in the air, the two flying adversaries changed into robots as well, then dive bombed the small party. Rattrap and Cheetor both produced guns from somewhere on their mechanical bodies and rushed to meet their opponents.

"Get to cover, kids!" Rattrap called behind him.

Susie didn't have to be told twice. She immediately dived behind a large boulder that stood nearby. Calvin stood gaping at the spectacle before him in a slack-jawed stupor – prompting Susie to come out and drag him behind the rock with her.

Behind their makeshift blast shield, Calvin and Susie crouched together, listening as blasts and bangs and a cacophony of other battle noises assaulted their ears. They remained there for some time, wincing and gasping any time an explosion sounded a bit too close for their liking.

After a time, Calvin couldn't take the stress of not knowing what was going on. Tentatively, he peered over the rock to see what was happening. Cheetor was firing his gun at the red robot – the one that had appeared as a pteranodon – who nimbly avoided his attacks and launched a counterstrike with a pair of canons mounted on his shoulders. Cheetor narrowly avoided the direct hits, but was still flung backwards several feet.

Meanwhile, Rattrap had engaged the giant wasp in battle, shooting rapidly at the bug with his pistol. The wasp delivered his own attacks at Rattrap – alternating between a wicked looking harpoon gun and lasers fired from his eyes. Calvin watched intently as Rattrap opened some kind of hatch on his arm, pulled something out of it and tossed it at his opponent. The wasp raised his arm to see what had attached to it; seeing what it was, he gave a startled yelp just before it exploded.

Calvin ducked back behind the rock just as the shockwave from the blast blew past them. "... Yowza." he gulped.

"Calvin, what's happening?" Susie asked frantically. "Who's winning?"

"H,h,hard to s,say." Calvin replied. "Both sides seem pretty even. It c,could be anyone's game."

Calvin went to take another peek at the battle – this time, Susie couldn't help but look as well.

Out on the battlefield, the wasp had been cornered by both Rattrap and Cheetor who were firing their weapons at him in rapid succession. The wasp had been a bit banged up and blackened from the explosion; that, along with Cheetor and Rattrap earnestly pressing their attacks, made it look like he wouldn't last much longer.

Judging by the look on his face, he knew it too.

"Wait a minute." Susie piped up, scanning the area. "What happened to – "

"Well."

The two children yelped and turned around; there, hovering in the air above them, was the robot who had called himself Terrorsoar. He looked at the children with greedy orange optics, a malicious smile was pasted on his silver face.

"What do we have here?" Terrorsaur said ponderously; his voice was high pitched and raspy, like the caw of a crow. "Humans? Here? That's interesting."

He slowly lowered himself to toward the ground, closer to the children. Calvin and Susie backed away as far as they could, pressing themselves right up against the rock.

"What're you kids doing here?" Terrorsaur demanded. In response, Susie started breathing heavily, trying to melt into the rock – out of the villains reach. Calvin did his best to glare at the robot with defiant contempt, while also squeezing himself as far away as possible.

"Aw, not the talkative types, eh?" Terrorsaur mused. "Well, no matter. We'll find out one way or another." As he stretched out his hand to seize them, a blast of energy hit him square in the back, sending him reeling forward. Terrorsaur righted himself and flew off; as the children watched him retreat, another robot flew over their heads after him.

"Return to base!" Terrorsaur yelled over the noise of battle. Calvin and Susie scrambled over the boulder to see the two fliers fleeing the scene, changing back into animals as they went.

The new robot fired one last shot at the retreating opponents. There sounded an explosion followed by a raspy screech.

The new arrival drifted to the ground beside Rattrap. "Nice timin', there, sister!" the rat said in way of greeting.

"Just can't keep yourselves out of trouble for one day, huh boys?" a new feminine sounding voice replied.

"Hey, we coulda handled 'em on our own, y'know!" Rattrap said defensively.

"All the same, it's good that you showed up." Cheetor interceded. "I mean, if the preds had gotten those kids, then – oh slag, the kids!" in a split second, Cheetor had rushed over to the boulder Calvin and Susie had concealed themselves behind. "Hey, are you guys alright?" he peered around to where they stood looking up at him in awe. "It's okay guys, they're gone now. You're completely safe." He reached his hand out toward the children who only continued looking up at him.

Calvin's mouth fell open and he pointed numbly at Cheetor as the other two robots strode up behind him. "You – you guys are robots." he said uneasily.

"Huh?" Cheetor looked down at himself. " – Oh,... yeah I guess we didn't really establish that earlier."

"What _are_ you?" Susie demanded frantically. "Where did you come from? _What's going on?_"

"Calm down, little one." the robot with the female voice said, holding her hands up reassuringly. "We're not going to hurt you."

"All the same," Calvin spoke up. "it still leaves us with a whole lotta questions – and a gross lack of answers."

"Well this ain't exactly the best place for a powwow – now that the preds're on to us." Rattrap interjected.

"Rattrap's right." Cheetor agreed. "We need to get you two to the base... Optimus'll be able to explain things then – _beast mode_." he changed back into a cheetah, then crouched low to the ground. "On my back, kids. It'll be faster that way."

Susie was uncertain about this. Despite their show of protecting them from the fliers, they had still deceived them about their true nature; she wasn't sure if she should give them her full trust just yet. Wearily, she looked to Calvin to see what he thought. He met her gaze and gave a haphazard shrug, as if to say _'what other choice do we have?' _and walked over to where Cheetor stood waiting.

Seeing no probable alternative, Susie grudgingly followed suit and climbed onto the cheetah directly behind Calvin.

"Alright, ready to go?" Cheetor asked.

"Eh, you guys go on ahead." Rattrap said. "I'm gonna call ahead and let everyone know about our, uh, visitors." he held his wrist up to his mouth and spoke into it. "Rattrap to maximal base, come in!"

There was a bit of static and a deep, rough voice answered. "Speak, _vermin_."

"What the – _get off the line, CHOPPAH FACE!_"

They didn't hear any more as Cheetor called a quick "Let's go!" and dashed off through the foliage.

Susie held tightly to Calvin's back and kept her legs firmly clamped around Cheetor's torso. The cheetah moved with such speed that she feared the slightest bump might send them sprawling to the floor.

Still, Cheetor was mindful of his passengers and took care to keep them firmly on his back as he sped through the jungle. Cheetor blazed over terrain in half the time it would have taken the children to travel on their own; the foliage was reduced to green blur as they flew by.

Though she was terrified, Susie found an odd thrill from traveling so fast – the way Cheetor charged over the land so blindingly fast, like some kind of thrill ride at an amusement park. And though she had never really been a thrill seeker before, she had to admit that there was an odd sense of fun to this.

"Was it a good idea to leave Rattrap behind like that?" Calvin asked after a while.

"Oh, don't worry." Cheetor replied. "Rattrap can take care of himself. Besides, Airrazor's with him – she can get him home quick. I hate to admit it, but Airrazor's probably the fastest one of us, even faster than me."

"So who is Optimus?" Susie asked, having been wondering for some time.

"Optimus is our leader." Cheetor said simply. "You'll meet him when we get to the base, which should be about... here!" he sprang out of the jungle into an area of many cliffs, crags and ridges situated about with many waterfalls. And set in the middle of those hills, with the light of the setting sun blazing onto it, was an enormous slate gray spaceship.

Though the ship looked battered and beaten, and certainly like it would never fly again, it was still an impressive sight for the humans.

Calvin gave an impressed whistle as he slid off Cheetor's back. "So this is your spaceship?"

"The Axalon." Cheetor confirmed. "Home, sweet home."

Behind them, the call of a bird sounded. The three of them turned around to see a peregrine falcon with a huge rat perched on its back descending toward them rapidly. It appeared Cheetor had not exaggerated Airrazor's speed.

The femme-bot alighted on the ground in front of them, allowing Rattrap to dismount. "I see you all got here alright." she said with a smile – or as much as a smile as a bird can show. "No problems, I take it?"

"Me? Problems?" Cheetor responded playfully. "C'mon Airrazor, I thought you knew me better than that!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your polka-dots in a pinch!" Rattrap chided. "C'mon, let's not keep everyone waiting!" he started moving toward the ship, transforming as he went. The other two robots transformed as well and they all went together toward the Axalon.

As they approached, a circular hatch opened from the underbelly of the ship and lowered a platform to the ground. Once everyone had climbed on board, the platform shuddered and raised itself again into the heart of the alien spacecraft.

Once inside the vessel, Susie found her old worries and concerns creeping up on her again. What would happen if these robots proved not to be so benign? Could they escape? The prospect seemed unlikely – both Cheetor and Airrazor were very fast and could undoubtedly catch them with ease. Aside from that, they each had guns and an assortment of other alien weapons; and even if that weren't the case, they still had fangs and claws and beaks and talons, and that was just with the ones she knew about – she had no idea what sort of animals the others robots turned into. What did they have at their disposal? Just a flimsy binder – which Susie realized she had dropped when the boar had chased them away. So really, they had nothing.

She moved forward with slow, tentative steps – ready to bolt should the need arise.

Calvin was stoked. He had often imagined what it would be like to be on an actual alien spaceship. Now that he was on board, he felt himself quivering with anticipation. Though the interior of the vessel was rather plain and undecorative, the fact that it was inside an alien spacecraft made it all the more interesting – every switch, every console, every button and lever of every control panel filled him with awe and wonder. It was like he had gotten lost in a candy store in the middle of Disneyland on Christmas morning. He briskly stepped forward into the main control room, taking in everything he saw with wide, enthralled eyes.

As he was examining the array of alien technology, a huge dromeosaur, bigger than both him and Susie put together, stepped in front of his path. The dinosaurs sudden appearance caused Calvin to abruptly skid to a startled halt, and Susie to emit a high pitched squeak and jump backward right into Rattrap, which made her jump some more.

The dinosaur, a utahraptor Calvin estimated from the sheer size of it, glared down at the humans through steely blue eyes. "So, these are the humans you stumbled across?" he said in a gravelly voice – the same voice, Calvin realized, that had responded to Rattrap's contact. The raptor sniffed at Calvin and sneered. "A rather... unimpressive collection."

Suddenly a gigantic robot stood between Calvin and the raptor. "Give them some space, Dinobot; you're going to traumatize them!"

Dinobot growled at the huge robot, but complied all the same, stepping back a couple paces.

Calvin looked at the big robot; his face and hands were green, he had a wide breastplate that appeared to be formed from a lower jaw with rows of pointed teeth running up it. On the back of his arms were brown gauntlets formed from three toed forelegs; behind his square-jawed head, Calvin could make out teeth from an upper jaw with a barely noticeable horn sticking out from behind. Calvin estimated that his animal form must have been a rhinoceros.

"Are you Optimus?" Calvin said to the burly robot.

"Nope, name's Rhinox." the robot said, taking Calvin's hand and shaking it – a surprisingly tender maneuver for such a huge figure. "Nice to meet you."

"Indeed, it is." a new voice said. Calvin and Susie turned to see a big, gray robot striding into the room. This robot had humanoid hands and big shoulder pads that nearly doubled his width. His arms and legs were both white with red lines running about them and on his head was a blue helmet with curved, blade-like protrusions on either side of it.

The robot smiled at the humans and raised his hand in greeting. "Hello. My name is Optimus Primal, commander of this ship."

"... Hey." Calvin said, nervously. "I'm Calvin,... Calvin Mitchell."

Susie's voice seemed to have been lost to her, so Calvin was obliged to introduce her as well.

"I see." Optimus said. "Now I assume you must have a few questions, so – "

"Oh, you _bet_ we have questions!" Susie's voice had come back in full force. "Who are you people? Where did you come from? Who were those _flying freaks_ that attacked us? _Why_ did they attack us? _What's going on?_"

Optimus raised his hand to silence her. "Settle down now; all of your questions will be answered." he turned and started walking toward an adjoining room, beckoning the others to follow. "Perhaps we should all sit down, we may be here a while."

They all moved into the room, which had a large, round table situated in the middle of it. Once they were all seated, Optimus continued. "Now then, what would you like to know?"

"You could start by tellin' us what's goin' on between you guys and those others that attacked us." Calvin suggested.

"Ah, that." Optimus sighed. "Well Calvin, Susie, I'm afraid I must inform you that you've landed in the middle of the Beast Wars."

"The _beast wars?_" Susie questioned.

"Guess that explains the fighting." Calvin remarked.

"Yes." Optimus agreed. "We maximals have had conflict with the predacons for ages. It started centuries ago – back before there even were maximals and predacons, back between our ancestors, the autobots and the – "

"Decepticons?"

Calvin turned to Susie, a look of astonishment on his face. Susie looked back at him, and then noticed that everyone in the room had their attention on her. She swallowed nervously and contemplated how best to answer everyones unspoken question. "Erm,... I, I saw a newspaper article once that I remember had the words autobots and decepticons in it. It, um, I think it outlined some kind of battle that had happened or something; I don't really remember, I kinda skimmed through it – the whole thing just sounded so ridiculous, I thought it was some kind of joke."

"It was no joke, _human_!" Dinobot snarled, pointing a claw-tipped finger at her. "You have no idea the atrocities that transpired during the great war! You cannot – "

"That'll do, Dinobot, settle down." Optimus interceded. The metal warrior slunk back in his seat with a grimace and a growl.

Optimus proceeded. "Well, Dinobot is right, there was a great war that ravaged our home world of Cybertron – and it might have stayed there, had we not run out of energon."

"Energon?" Calvin and Susie asked in unison.

"Eh, that's the stuff that makes us go." Rattrap explained. "It powers our bodies, our weapons, our ships, everything."

"Anyway," Optimus continued. "Cybertrons energon resources ran low, so our ancestors were obliged to seek out new sources. My ancestor, Optimus Prime, led a group of autobots to search for any new supplies of energon – unfortunately, they weren't the only ones.

"The decepticon leader, Megatron, and several of his troops attacked the autobots, boarding their ship and causing it to crash on ancient earth.

"Everyone on board the ship fell into a stasis lock, and remained that way for centuries until a volcanic eruption reactivated the ships repair systems. This awoke everyone and the war started anew.

"Eventually, the autobots were victorious and returned to Cybertron. Some time after that, there was a great upgrade; the autobots became known as maximals and the decepticons became predacons.

"During this time, an uneasy truce of sorts existed between the two factions."

"I'm gonna hazard a guess that it didn't last." Calvin stated drolly.

"Unfortunately not." Optimus concurred. "On Cybertron there was an artifact – most carefully guarded by the maximal elders. A small group of predacons stole it and fled Cybertron.

"My crew and I were on a research expedition when the transmission of the theft went out. Since we were the closest to the location of Megatrons ship, we had little choice but to pursue him."

"Megatron?" Susie questioned.

Calvin guffawed "Isn't that the guy who – "

"They are different individuals, but yes, Megatron _did_ take his name from the decepticon leader." Optimus clarified. "Anyway, we gave chase to the escaping predacons, following them through a vortex that deposited us above this very planet. After engaging in one last dogfight, both ships were damaged and sent crashing onto the planet surface, and we've been hare ever since."

Calvin and Susie both looked up at Optimus in awe. Calvin let out an impressed whistle.

"Okay, I guess that explains a lot." Susie said, wearily. "But what's with the turning into animals bit?"

"That's due to the energon on the planet." Rhinox explained.

"Wait, I thought energon was a _good_ thing." said a perplexed Calvin.

"When it's stabilized, yes." Rhinox continued. "But this planet is seeded with so much raw, unstable energon, that prolonged exposure can cause irreparable damage – even termination."

"Ah," Calvin sighed. "so, what? Your beast modes act like some kinda shield from the energon effects?"

"That's basically the gist of it!" Rattrap chipped in.

"So then," Optimus took the floor. "now that you've heard our story, perhaps you would like to share yours."

So Calvin related their adventure to their robotic audience; with a few comments and perspective from Susie now and then. He told them about their assignment, how he got the brilliant idea to go back in time to do research, he told them how the time machine kept malfunctioning, how they ended up in the wrong time period by mistake, about crashing the time machine, being chased by the boar and getting lost in the jungle. " – and that's when Rattrap and Cheetor found us." he finished.

"Yeah, and then Terrorsaur and Waspinator found _us_." Cheetor added.

Optimus looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he finally looked up, saying. "That's quite a story – now the question is, how do we get your time machine back?"

Calvin looked back at him "You, you're really gonna help us get it back?"

"Of course. You don't belong in this time and it's far too dangerous for you to stay here; it would be irresponsible to keep you here when we can help you get back."

"Oh. Well it seems simple enough to me." Calvin said. "Just send send some of your guys out to look through the jungle. If we can – "

"Things are never so simple, Calvin." Optimus broke him off. He then leaned forward, focusing on him. "Tell me; during that skirmish, did either of the predacons see you?"

Calvin, taken aback by this inquiry, thought for a moment then replied. "Uh, well... yeah. Te, Terrorsaur got a pretty good look at us."

"I see." Optimus sighed. "And if they know there are humans here, it's a safe bet they'll inform Megatron about it."

"... What would Megatron do?" Susie squeaked nervously.

Optimus thought for a moment, then turned to Dinobot. "What do you think, Dinobot?" he asked.

Dinobot breathed deeply. "Megatron is not ignorant of the role humans played in the decepticons defeat to the autobots." he replied. "When he learns there are humans here, he may see them as an asset to acquire – or as a threat to be eliminated."

Susie gulped, visibly paling. Calvin looked at Dinobot. "What are you, like the leading authority on Megatron's motives?" he asked.

Dinobot looked at Calvin contemptuously. "In a manner of speaking." he said. "You see, I was one of the predacons who aided him in the theft."

That statement quickly silenced any retort Calvin may have had.

Dinobot elaborated. "Shortly after we landed, I quickly found that Megatron had brought us to the wrong planet – he had failed to bring us to Earth! Outraged by Megatron's incompetence, I decided a change of allegiance was in order."

"Thank you, Dinobot." Optimus said dryly. "Now then, back to the matter at hand. I believe the best course of action would be to have one of us accompany one of you when you go out to find your time machine. Are there any objections?"

There were none.

"Alright then." said Optimus. "Now, there is one more matter I'd like to speak with you about."

"Okay..." Calvin said warily. "What is it?"

Optimus hesitated a moment. He looked as if this were a subject he didn't want to bring up. "Understand, you will be allowed to stay here, regardless of what happens."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Susie asked.

"I just don't want you to feel like you _have_ to do anything while you're here." Optimus clarified. "But you could help us out tremendously. With your help, we might even win this war!"

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa!_" Calvin shouted. "If you think for one _second_ I'm marchin' into battle, you got another thing comin'!"

"I would never suggest such a thing." Optimus's voice was calm, but stern. "What I mean is, when you go back to your proper time, you could take one of us with you."

"I'm not sure I follow, Big Bot." Cheetor said. "How is having one less troop gonna win us the war?"

"Let me explain. We can assume, from what Susie said earlier, that the great war is still going on in their time. Now, when they return to their time, our unit would have to locate the autobots – "

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Optimus?" Rhinox interrupted the maximal leader. "Interfering with an event that already happened could drastically change the time stream."

"Yes, he would have to locate them, but not get involved." Optimus clarified. "Then when the war's over, the autobots would return to Cybertron. And then, once _we_ left on our expedition..."

"Cybertron would know exactly where to find us!" Cheetor finished enthusiastically.

Most of the faces around the table grinned at this news, it finally looked like they would be going home after so long. Each face then turned to the seated humans, eagerly awaiting their response.

Susie looked at Calvin, who looked deep in thought. After a moment, he looked up and said. "I suppose that isn't an unreasonable request. It'll have to be Rattrap, though."

"Yes." Optimus agreed. "If any of us would be able to integrate somewhere without being noticed, it would be Rattrap."

"No, it needs to be Rattrap because our ship is only about this big." Calvin positioned his arms at his sides to give an approximate estimate of the size of the box. "Unless, of course, you have somebody smaller."

"No, I'm afraid not." Optimus sighed.

A loud moan sounded through the room. Calvin turned to see Susie holding her face in her hand. "Great, just great!" she said, mournfully. "Stuck in a cramped, tiny space next to an odious, garbage munching, mangy, rotten _rodent!_" she then looked up to see Rattrap looking at her with an incredulous, irate expression. "Oh, no offense, I just think you're really creepy." she quickly amended.

Calvin blew a large gust through his pursed lips, followed by a fit of hardy chuckling. The scene was just hysterical, yet so completely Susie. There she was, scared to death of rats, and making her displeasure known in the presence of a rat, and then apologizing for it.

It seemed the irony was not lost on the maximals either. After a time, they all began having a good laugh at it. All except Rattrap, who didn't think it was funny, and Dinobot, who never laughed at anything.

* * *

Meanwhile, far away in a desolate land, stood another alien spaceship. The Darkside, home base of the predacons. It was into this vessel that Terrorsaur and Waspinator now flew.

They arrived in the main chamber of the spacecraft. All around them, their comrades stood about on hovering platforms, their optics keenly focused on the returning fliers. And directly in front of them, seated in his throne-like command chair, sat their leader, Megatron.

"Report." Megatron growled, sneering down at his two peons.

Waspinator buzzed nervously. "We find no energon anywhere." he said.

"None?" Megatron demanded, obviously irritated.

"Uh no," Terrorsaur quickly spoke up. "but we _did_ find something more interesting – there are humans here!"

This had exactly the effect Terrorsaur expected it would. Everyone looked to him more intently; some were shocked, some were skeptical, but all were intent on hearing more.

"Humans?" Megatron repeated.

"There have never been humans here before!" Scorponok gawked in disbelief.

"Are you certain of this, Terrorsaur?" Tarantulas asked patronizingly.

"I was looking _right at them!_" Terrorsaur retorted indignantly. "I _know_ what I saw!"

"Yes." Megatron mused. "But Scorponok has a point. There never _have_ been humans here before,... their sudden appearance is quite an intrigue."

"And that's not the half of it." Terrorsaur continued.

"What do you mean?" asked Megatron.

"They were only _kids!_" Terrorsaur proclaimed. "They couldn't have been any older than eight, maybe ten years at most."

"A couple of_ kids_ couldn't have shown up all by themselves!" Blackarachnia sniped in dryly.

"No, indeed _not_." Megatron added. "There must be others somewhere."

"There won't be for long!" Terrorsaur crowed, brandishing his pistol. "We can wipe them all out easily." Waspinator laughed in agreement, also wielding his gun.

"Patience, Terrorsaur." Megatron chided. "After all, one must look through any occurrence for any advantage that might present itself. Now _Scorponok, Tarantulas!_" the two arachnids stood at attention. "Go to the location where the first sighting took place. Scour the area and see what you can find."

Scorponok raised his claw in salute, and he and Tarantulas maneuvered their platforms toward the back exit.

"In the mean time," Megatron continued. "I'd like to arrange a, uh, meeting with these children. Yeeeessssssss..."

* * *

**A/N: **So there's the real chapter four. Once again, I'm sorry for the delay and hope this chapter is satisfactory.

On another note, I've placed a topic in the Calvin and Hobbes forums which I believe anyone who reads of writes Calvin and Hobbes fan fictions could benefit from taking a look at. If any of you are interested, you'll find it in forum area number six.


	5. A Plan Set in Motion

Susie didn't sleep well that night. She lay tossing and turning on the cold metal floor, anxious and racked with nerves; despite how tired she was, sleep would not come to her. When she did finally settle into sleep, it offered no respite; she was beset by unsettling visions as she dreamed.

She found herself, as it were, in a wide open field. The scene was formed with dollops and swatches of colors that waved and swirled throughout the landscape; as if she had stepped into a Van Gogh painting. She wandered about the scene for an unknown amount of time until she came to the crest of a small hill. Standing atop the hill she found Calvin who was dressed like Doctor Frankenstein sporting a white lab coat, black gloves and laboratory goggles.

Calvin peered down at her as she approached. "Are you ready?" he asked ominously.

"... For what?" Susie faintly whispered.

"We are on the verge of the greatest adventure human kind has ever witnessed!" Calvin crowed blatantly. "You cannot proceed unprepared! So,... _are_ you ready?"

Susie shook her head softly. "This doesn't feel right." she said "The whole situation seems bad."

"_And it's only going to get worse!_" Calvin replied, his eyes burning and baring a toothy, malicious smile.

Susie stepped back a few paces, looking at him incredulously. "We can't do this Calvin, we have to go!"

"Nonsense! I am a genius, after all!" Calvin struck a dashing pose – one fist on his hip, the other hand pointing straight into the air. Susie gaped as he began rising off the ground. He kept on rising higher and higher, right into the sun which then exploded, casting the scene to night.

Susie looked up to where Calvin had disappeared; thousands and thousands of objects of some sort were falling from the sky. As they fell ever closer, Susie could see they were all cardboard boxes.

One box fell to the ground face down at Susie's feet. She examined the box and found its bottom was painted black. Another landed nearby and she saw its bottom was painted white. The boxes continued falling all around, falling fast and hard; Susie had to climb on top of the boxes to avoid the ones constantly falling around her.

When the dust settled, Susie looked around at what had happened. She found that the boxes had fallen in a gigantic chessboard pattern; for miles around, all she could see were squares of black and white.

As Susie stood marveling at the strange pattern, she heard something in the distance – a sound like several feet marching in unison. She followed the sound to find a huge regiment of humanoid figures marching in ranks and files. As she came closer, she found that they were all dressed in the blue uniforms of Union soldiers.

Off in the distance, another mass of bodies were marching toward the Union soldiers. Though they were still far off, Susie knew that this body of soldiers would be dressed in gray confederate uniforms.

The two armies continued their marching toward each other. As the Union army came closer to her, Susie stumbled back with a yelp; underneath the uniforms, the soldiers were mechanical. Their bodies looked similar to the inner workings of a clock with gears and springs and wheels and widgets and other parts.

The soldiers continued their mechanical march then surged forward, meeting each other with a tumultuous clash. The two armies battled each other viciously without mercy. As the two factions exchanged blows, Susie could swear she heard the battle cries of wild beasts intermingled with cacophony of the fight. Whenever two sides struck, there arose growls, roars, howls, hisses, screeches and bellows with a ferocity that struck fear all the way to her core.

She awoke panting heavily, her brow was beaded with sweat. Wearily, she wrapped her arms around her knees and took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves.

Something in the background growled.

Susie instantly stiffened; all her senses were on high alert. The thing growled again and her eyes darted across the room, trying to locate the creature. She tried as hard as she could not to panic, but that was difficult with an unknown monster creeping around the vicinity – an unknown monster that probably ate meat at that.

After another couple of growls, Susie realized that they sounded a bit too rhythmic – coming at regular intervals – to be some sort of beast. Slowly, she turned around and saw Calvin laying on his back with his mouth wide open. Whenever he exhaled, the same growling sounds she had heard sounded.

After fully processing all this, Susie rolled her eyes, pulled off one of her shoes and whapped him over the head with it.

"_OW!_" Calvin shouted, holding his head in his hands. He turned to see Susie with her arms folded, holding her shoe and glaring at him. "What the crap was _that_ for?" he demanded.

"You were snoring." Susie replied emotionlessly.

"Well next time, let's try going with a gentle nudge before resorting to violence, shall we?" Calvin sniped, rubbing his tender spot.

Susie simply sighed wearily. "You need to get up anyway," she said. "big day ahead of you."

"Yeah, yeah." He breathed. He got up and stretched, fully awakening himself – he needed to be alert and aware when he went out to recover the time box.

"So, sleep well?" Calvin asked in an annoyingly chipper tone.

"Not in the least." Susie grumbled.

"Well that's too bad. As for me, I couldn't have slept more – "

"Calvin, if you tell me that you slept like a baby on an alien spaceship, my shoe will be gunning for your head again. I am not kidding."

"Alright, jeez." Calvin breathed exasperatedly. "I was only gonna say sleeping on a spaceship was a new experience."

"Well _that_ goes without saying." Susie sarcastically replied. Then she paused for a moment, as if contemplating something. "Calvin,..." she said finally. "Where are we?"

"What're you talking 'bout?" he replied. "We're in the Axalon."

"Yes, I know that. What I mean is," she leaned in closer to Calvin, as if she were afraid someone might overhear. "we _are_ still on Earth, _aren't we?_"

"'Course we are." Calvin said, nonchalantly. " The time machine can't leave the planet."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely." Calvin took a good look at Susie's harried expression and narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you so keen on this?" he asked.

"Well,... have you noticed that we haven't seen any other humans in the time we've been here?" she asked seriously. "If we were still on Earth, wouldn't we come across other people?"

"Not necessarily." Calvin replied. "Hard as it may be to conceive, there are places on the present Earth that aren't inhabited by humans. And we're in the _past_, don't forget. I'm sure Earth's population would've been more sparse in this time period."

"I suppose." Susie conceded. "But then there's the way Optimus and the others were talking last night. The never called it _'Earth'_, they always said _'this planet'_."

"Well, maybe they don't know they're _on_ Earth."

Susie stood back a moment to process that. "But,... if two humans showed up here, wouldn't that tip them off that it's Earth?"

"I don't know! Maybe they figured that since_ their_ time machine flies through space, _ours_ does too!"

Susie mulled that over a bit. "Hmmm. If they really don't know it's Earth,do you suppose we should tell them?"

"No, I don't think that'd be a good idea." Calvin answered absently, yet in a serious tone.

"What? Why?"

"Didn't you hear Dinobot last night? The only reason he defected from the Predacons is because he thought Megatron had brought them to the wrong planet! (And lest you forget, they were aiming for Earth.) So whaddaya think he's gonna do when he finds out they came to the right planet after all?"

Susie stared at Calvin. She was surprised by his statement – both by his sound, thought out reasoning and by the fact that he should care so much about the affairs of these robots. After all, this wasn't _their_ war, why should it matter to him what happens to them?

"... I don't know," she finally said. "Dinobot doesn't really strike me as the type to go back with his tail between his legs... Do you really think he'd turn on the other Maximals?"

"Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. Either way, it's a can of worms I'd _really_ rather not be responsible for opening!

"Although..." he held his chin in contemplation. "I suppose if there's anyone _to_ tell, it'd be Optimus. He _is_ the leader, he can decide what to do with the information."

There came a metallic rap at the door frame. "Hey, are you kids uh, are you... eh... _decent?_" Rattrap's voice called from the other side.

"You can come in." Calvin replied.

Susie cringed. "I can't _believe_ we have to take the dirty _rat_ back to the future with us." she grumbled to herself.

Rattrap slipped into the room in his robot form. This was a little better for Susie, but not much.

"Hey, nice to see ya all bright eyed 'n bushy tailed." the robot said. The kids couldn't quite tell if he was being earnest or sarcastic. "Sounds like you were havin' a bit of a powwow in here."

"Oh, uh,... we were just... talking." Calvin explained.

"Yeah? What about?"

"Um,... stuff... human stuff."

Rattrap looked at him shrewdly through his red optics, then shrugged saying "Eh, guess it doesn't really matter. The boss monkey sent me here to see if you two were up." he turned to leave, but then turned back. "Oh, and before I forget, Rhinox and Airrazor rustled up a bitta breakfast for ya's."

Calvin and Susie looked up at the word breakfast. After all that had happened, they hadn't really noticed it, but now that things had quieted down, they both realized just how hungry they were.

With a quick glance at each other, they bolted out the door and down the corridor till they came to the command room where Airrazor and Rhinox were placing an assortment of fruits of all varieties on the table.

Susie looked at the spread, astounded. "You did all this for us?" she asked in happy surprise.

"We figured you would need nourishment soon." Airrazor explained. "So Rhinox and I went out and gathered what we could find."

"We don't know much about what humans eat," Rhinox added. "so we hope it's too your liking."

"S'alright, right now I'm so hungry, I don't really care _what_ I eat." Calvin rushed over to the table, grabbed a banana and bit into it with gusto – then rocked back with a gagging noise and retching expression.

Susie didn't bother repressing her laughter. "Did you forget bananas need to be peeled?" she teased.

"_No!_" he barked back. "I was... peeling it... with my teeth!" he glared at her with an expression that dared her to contradict him, then glanced back at the fruit. Then, in order to save face, he was obliged to place the peel back in his mouth and pull it off.

* * *

Within minutes, several fruits had been devoured and the two no longer hungry time travelers sat back contently.

At this moment, Optimus Primal came into the room. "I see you're both up." he said when he found the two of them seated at the table. "Are you ready, Calvin?" he asked seriously.

Calvin shrugged. "Ready as I'll ever be." he said as he got to his feet.

"Good. Your escort has arrived, he's waiting for you outside."

Airrazor rose and accompanied the children to the hatch. Optimus called out a quick "Good luck" as the platform lowered to the ground.

The platform lowered them into the open air, and standing on the ground before them was a large white tiger watching their descent.

As the platform came to the ground, the tiger strode up to them. "Greetings, humans." he said in a svelte voice.

"I take it you're gonna be the guide today." Calvin said.

The tiger nodded. "Indeed. I am Tigatron, and if you are ready, we may proceed."

Calvin jumped off the platform beside Tigatron who turned to head into the jungle. Calvin started to follow when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Calvin,..." Susie said wearily. Calvin turned to see a look of worry on her face. "I... be careful." she said at last.

"Why Susie," Calvin smirked. "do I sense a note of concern in your voice? How touching, didn't know you cared so much."

Susie managed to smile grimly. "Just come back in one piece." she said softly.

She watched as Calvin turned and followed after Tigatron, both disappearing into the dense foliage.

"He'll be alright." came a voice next to her. Susie turned to see Airrazor looking at her softly.

"I hope so." Susie admitted. "Calvin's a pain in the neck, but I'd hate for anything to happen to him."

"Don't worry." Airrazor replied. "Tigatron knows his way through the wild." she said with a sort of warmness to her voice. "He'll keep him safe."

Susie grinned at the fembot. "Sounds like someone has a bit of a crush." she said mischievously.

Airrazor quickly turned to the girl with a look of surprise in her turquoise optics. Susie was almost certain that is robots were capable of blushing, Airrazor's blue face would be turning a dark shade of red.

The fembot coughed a nervous little cough – the kind everyone makes when they're embarrassed. "Yes, well... I must be going." she rose into the air, changing into a falcon in the process.

Susie watched the bird fly into the distance before turning her attention back to the jungle where Calvin had disappeared. It looked like she was in for a long wait.

* * *

They tramped through the foliage for a long while. How long they had been on the search, Calvin didn't know; he simply followed behind Tigatron, eagerly looking in every direction for a clue that might lead them in the right direction.

For so long they traversed on with nothing but the sounds of the jungle breaking the silence. At length, Calvin couldn't take the quiet any longer and turned to his robotic guide. "So uh,... I don't recall seeing you on the ship last night." he stated simply.

Tigatron looked back at him with a somewhat scrutinizing expression. Just as Calvin was thinking he shouldn't have spoken up, the tiger replied. "My role in the maximals is a scout of sorts. So I am required to spend quite a bit of time away from base. Besides, I much prefer being out in the wild then cooped up on some musty ship."

"Ah, bit of an outdoors man, eh?"

"Indeed..." Tigatron replied, taking a long look about his surroundings. "Such a beautiful world." he mused. "It is such a tragedy we had to bring our conflicts here; Matrix knows how many innocent lives have been spoiled due to our senseless war!"

Calvin looked at him in awe. "Wow, you think about that a lot, don't you?"

"Every day." Tigatron nodded sadly. "So often I see the scars on this world – scars _we_ inflicted; the landscape blown apart, creatures killed in crossfire, forests set ablaze...

"That is why I fight, to do my part to bring an end to this war – before _any_ more harm comes to this world!"

Calvin understood where he was coming from, but the speech still caused him to discreetly roll his eyes. "I oughtta introduce you to Hobbes, you two'd have a field day together."

Tigatron stopped abruptly and looked at Calvin. "Who is Hobbes?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, Hobbes is my best friend – and also a tiger. He holds a lot of the same opinions you do." The mention of his striped friend made Calvin gaze off into the distance, longing to be home once more. "Ah, Hobbes," he mused. "I wonder what he's up to right now."

* * *

At that moment, Hobbes was going back to the house after another fruitless attempt at finding Calvin and Susie.

This particular outing had taken him further than he had ever gone before; presently, he was obliged to cross a busy street. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have gone out so far, but his friend was missing and he was desperate.

Hobbes had long grown accustomed to the fact that most humans couldn't see his proper form, but this made crossing the street a rather precarious endeavor. He didn't know how the drivers would interpret seeing him cross the road, but he doubted they would give him the courtesy of stopping.

Patiently, he waited until a sizable opening appeared in the line of traffic. When it opened, he bolted through, running as fast as his legs would go. He made it to the other side just in time as a big, red semi truck thundered down the road right where he had been a split second before.

Hobbes caught his breath as he watched the metal behemoth roll on. He noticed a strange decal painted on the trucks trailer – a boxy, kind of mechanical looking face of sorts.

"Huh, that's an odd emblem." he said to himself as he turned and continued trudging home.

* * *

Calvin and Tigatron continued their trek for some time. Calvin was diligently looking for the time machine while Tigatron walked beside him in silence.

Once again, the quiet of the jungle was starting to wear on Calvin. Idly, he thought of striking up another conversation with Tigatron.

"So, have you ever – "

Tigatron suddenly raised his paw up, cutting Calvin off. Calvin was surprised to see the tigers eyes narrowed in a threatening manner.

Tigatron sniffed the air and surrounding foliage; a low growl rumbled out of his throat, followed by a single word. "Scorponok."

The two of them hurried under cover quick as they could. As Calvin waited, he heard a faint sound – a clicking, clattering sort of sound, like an enormous insect.

Sure enough, as he peeked out from his hiding place, Calvin saw a huge, gray scorpion come scuttling onto the scene. He braced himself for the impending fight but,... nothing happened. He watched as the giant arachnid simply moved along without seeming to take notice of them.

Calvin thought he heard something coming from the scorpion – like he was muttering something under his breath. As he strained his ears, he could faintly make out what he was saying.

"... Ther're no humans here. Those flyers must've had some crossed circuits, don't know what they were seeing... "

"Humans?" Calvin whispered. Then a horrible realization dawned on him. "He means _us!_" he gasped.

"It is as we feared." Tigatron agreed. "Megatron is searching for you."

"Are you gonna fight him?" Calvin asked anxiously.

Tigatron paused for a moment, then replied "No. He hasn't seen us and he's moving away... back to the predacon base, by the looks of it."

Calvin looked in the direction Scorponok was heading. As he looked into the distance, he could just make out a shape of something that didn't look like part of the natural landscape.

"There is no need to get into a fight if it can be avoided." Tigatron finished. "All the same, we had better get a move on." And with renewed vigor, the boy and robot one again took off into the jungle.

* * *

Susie paced in front of the Axalon. Occasionally, she would pause and into the foliage where Calvin had disappeared, then take up her nervous pacing again.

It had been hours since they left. She wasn't quite sure how to tell time here, but she was certain it had been hours. She knew there was a likelihood that this trip would take a while, but this did nothing to settle her nerves.

As she sat to rest for a moment, she heard a rush of air behind her and a sudden thump of something large landing. "Have you been here this whole time?" asked the voice of Airrazor.

Susie turned to see the fembot in her beast mode, looking at her with concerned eyes.

"They've been gone all day." she replied. "Shouldn't they've been back by now?"

"Calm down, child." Airrazor admonished. "It's alright to worry a little, but this is bordering on obsession."

"_Well how am I supposed to feel?_" Susie retorted. "Calvin's trampled off into some lawless jungle with who knows what kind of dangers lurking around and that's _not including_ the predacons! If you knew Calvin the way I do, you'd be obsessing over his safety too!

"Calvin will act on any idiotic idea that comes to mind without even thinking about it, he has a knack for bad decision making and he can't keep his mouth shut to save his life! And, I know that he's in capable hands – or paws, or mechanisms or whatever, but _still!_" she threw her hands up in aspiration and slumped onto the ground.

She sat on the ground with her elbows on her knees and her face resting in her palms, staring out into the jungle forlornly.

"Worrying yourself like that isn't going to make him come back any sooner." said Airrazor, consolingly.

"Yeah, I know." Susie moaned. "It's just that,... I had a dream last night and... well, I've had a bad feeling about this whole thing."

Airrazor stepped closer to the girl. Then to Susie's surprise, the fembot extended her wing and wrapped it around her, drawing the girl close to her.

After the initial shock, Susie found she actually appreciated the gesture. She pressed her head to Airrazor's surprisingly soft body.

Airrazor gazed off into the distance for a time, then spoke up. "What you need," she said. "is something to take your mind off all this."

"Like what?" Susie asked absently.

Airrazor looked at Susie with what could almost be a smile on her beak. "Have you ever flown before?"

* * *

_A/N: _Okay, here's the next chapter. Enjoy it, 'cause it's gonna be a while before I can post again.

See, college is in full swing again, but instead of the campus I usually attend, I'm going to a school it takes me 22 minutes to get to. This wouldn't be so bad, if my classes were closer together, but as it stands, 3 out of 5 school days I basically have to go to college and stay there all day.

_On top of that_, I recently received a new calling in church which is going to take another considerable chunk out of my languishing free time.

But even if it weren't for these, it is now September, which as you know, means Halloween is fast approaching. So, I'm going to put this story on hold for the time being and work on my more or less Halloween centric Kim Possible crossover, _In the Dark of Night_.

So until then, keep it real.


	6. A Wrench Thrown in the Works

"Now be sure you have a good, firm grip." Airrazor instructed. Susie peered down over Airrazor's head, down the edge of the Axalon and to the forest floor below. As she gazed, she realized the floor seemed much further down than it was, and seemed to be dropping further.

Nervously, she grabbed hold of Airrazor's feathers all the tighter, her entire body seemed to stiffly lock up. "This sounded like a good idea at first." she said, breathing heavily. "But now that I'm up here, I think I'm having second thoughts."

"Relax." Airrazor admonished. "If you do as I said, you won't fall. And if, by some chance, you do actually fall, I'll be right there to catch you." The fembot strode to the side of the Axalon, spreading her wings wide. She paused at the edge of the ship, taking in the magnificent view of the land beneath them, which brought Susie's of vertigo to a maximum.

"Ready?" Airrazor asked.

"_NO._" Susie squeaked.

Airrazor launched off the side of the ship, and the world dropped from beneath Susie's feet. She clamped her arms vice-like around Airrazor's neck and squeezed her eyes shut. When the first rush of adrenalin wore off and the motions seemed less unnerving, she finally managed to pry her eyes open. What had once filled her with terror, now instilled her with awe. The wind rippled through Susie's hair as they sailed along; beneath them, the trees of the jungle blew by in a green blur. In spite of her near death experience, she couldn't help but smile and marvel at it all.

"Wondrous, isn't it?" Airrazor said as she slowed from a sweeping rush to a lazy drift.

"It's amazing." Susie breathed as she drank in the sensations. "No wonder people dream of flying, this is just... wow."

Airrazor smiled and rose higher.

They flew along like that for some time – Susie didn't really notice how long. This was so peaceful and relaxing, it really did put her mind at ease. "Thanks, Airrazor." she said. "You're right, this is just what I needed."

"You're welcome, child." the fembot replied. "And look!" she pointed her beak toward the jungle. Susie turned her gaze to where Airrazor pointed. As she strained her eyes, she could make out a patch of white amid the dark green of the foliage, accompanied by a little speck of yellow.

"They're back!" she exclaimed exuberantly, squeezing Airrazor's neck tighter.

"Didn't I tell you they'd be just fine?" the fembot remarked as she swooped down to meet their comrades.

* * *

This was not one of Calvin's better days. He had been walking all day, under the blazing jungle sun, breathing in the hot, humid air; and he had nothing to show for his troubles but sore feet and mosquito bites.

"Man, this is hopeless!" he exclaimed, bitterly. "We've been out here forever and we're still no closer to finding it!"

"Do not be discouraged." Tigatron admonished. "Success is in perseverance. We _will_ find it, if we keep looking."

"Yeah, well I don't know about you, but I'm gonna persevere on this rock for a bit." Calvin grumbled as he slumped down onto a large, flat stone.

Tigatron, seeing that Calvin was, indeed, in need of rest, laid himself down on the mossy earth, keeping his eyes on the young human while keeping his other sensed on alert for any threats.

Calvin rested with his eyes closed for a good few minutes as he fretted over the events of the day in his mind. He sat there for a time, and while he sat in stillness, something caught his attention – a very faint sound in the distance.

"That sound," he murmured as he lifted himself up. "what's that trickling sound?"

"The river, most likely." Tigatron replied.

"The river." Calvin said, dryly. Then realization dawned in his eyes and his face broke out into a wide smile. "_The river!_" he repeated enthusiastically, jumping off the rock with renewed vigor. "when we crashed, we fell into a river. This could be the same one!"

And he rushed off toward the sound with gusto; Tigatron had to dash to catch up with him. Calvin quickly ran until he reached the bank of the river. Without skipping a beat, he turned and followed the river in the direction the water flowed.

"Are you certain about this?" Tigatron asked from behind him.

Calvin saw something laying on the ground in the distance. He rushed over to the object and pulled it out of the mud – it was Susie's binder. He turned back to Tigatron and waved it at him. "No doubt about it!" he grinned as he dashed off again.

A few more paces, and Calvin stopped abruptly. There, before him, was the object of his desire. "The tree." He breathed. "There it is! C'mon, the time machine's wedged in it's branches! We're that much closer to getting home!"

He ran to the trunk of the tree, Tigatron right behind him. They circled around the trunk until Calvin got a view of the box. "Now, if I could only find a way _up_ there."

"Leave that to me. Tigatron, _Maximize_."

Calvin watched as Tigatron transformed into his robot mode. His transformation was nearly identical to Cheetor's, as was his robot body; only his face was a shiny teal color and more feline than Cheetor's dark blue, boyish facade.

Once transformed, Tigatron grasped Calvin securely and hoisted him up toward the lower hanging branches. Calvin grabbed a hold and proceeded to climb to where the box hung.

"Gotcha!" he said triumphantly as he clutched the box and started pulling it loose from the branch. He mirth was short lived, however, when he discovered he wasn't the only one who had found it. Curled in a corner of the box, lay a little chimpanzee dozing away in the warm afternoon sun and quite oblivious to the unexpected observer.

Calvin looked at the little primate quizzically for a moment; but his mood quickly changed from puzzlement to annoyance. "Hey, Bonzo, shove off!" he yelled, giving the box a rough shake.

The chimp, jostled from his sleep, turned to look at his aggressor. He made a very indignant sound at Calvin and nestled down to go back to sleep.

This, of course, only served to fuel Calvin's temper. "What, you think you got squatters rights, Chim Chim? I told you to take a hike!"

The chimp barked rudely at Calvin and gave him a slap to the forehead.

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play, is it?" Calvin challenged. He grabbed the box by the base and tilted it completely over, causing the chimp to tumble out, screaming as he fell to the branches below.

"Eh, heh heh. Serves him right." Calvin laughed snarkily. He looked down and called to the robot on the ground. "Tigatron, I've got the time machine! When I get down, we'll have to – _oof!_" Calvin nearly lost his balance as something unexpected hit him in the side of the head. Turning to see where the projectile had come from, Calvin saw the little chimp looking at him, waving his arms in the air and woofing in a way that sounded like laughter.

"Why you dirty little monkey!" he shouted angrily. The chimp responded by clapping his hands and showing a wide, toothy grin. "Think that's funny, do ya? I'll show you what's – _ack!_" Calvin lurched as the chimp threw another projectile at him, hitting him in the gut. The chimp shrieked exuberantly as Calvin stumbled, barely catching the trunk of the tree before falling. "Alright, Diddy Kong, I'm through playing nice!" Calvin snarled. "Lemme show you how _higher_ primates take care of – "

"Is there a problem?" Tigatron's voice called from below.

Calvin called back down to him. "Everything's fine, nothing's wrong. _C'mere, you mangy – _" he lunged at the little primate who nimbly ducked out of the way. Calvin again made a swipe at the chimp, but again, he missed. They continued like that for a while, Calvin chasing the chimp through the branches and taking a swing at him whenever he could and the chimp dodging his blows and striking back at him with far more success than Calvin would care to admit.

At last, Calvin stopped for a moment to catch his breath; the chimp stood a few branches in front of him, still grinning mockingly at him.

As Calvin paused, he saw something hanging from the branch he was on – a cluster of some sort of fruit. He quickly realized that they must have been what that stupid monkey had been throwing at him. He grabbed one of the fruits and, with a snarl, he flung it at the chimp. The missile met its mark, hitting the chimp square in the forehead.

"_Yes!_" Calvin exclaimed, pumping his fist. The chimp gave a loud shriek and dropped out of view. "Ha!" Calvin chortled, thinking the chimp had retreated. "I smoked him. Oh yeah, who's evolved?" he did a little victory dance and made his way to come down, but he stopped short.

Behind him came a sickening sort of sound; a noxious slurping coupled with an ill-boding crunching and munching.

Calvin swallowed nervously and, against his better judgment, turned to see the source of the sound. As he looked down where the chimp had disappeared, his breath caught in his throat. Hanging on the trunk just below him was an enormous hairy spider. Its fangs were moving rapidly and as Calvin watched, he noticed a single furry hand slowly disappearing between them.

He let out an audible gasp, which caught the monsters attention.

The spider looked up at Calvin with its horrible green eyes; seeing him, the monster quickly consumed the remainder of its prey and started moving toward him. "So, those flyers were actually right. Fancy that." the arachnid seethed in a slick, scratchy voice.

Calvin moved back as far as the surroundings would let him. "_Tigatron,_" he breathed through the side of his mouth in a squeaky whisper. "_problem._"

"I advise you not to run." the spider said, still approaching. "It will only be worse if you resist. Megatron wants you alive, but not necessarily in one piece."

The spider reached out its long, hairy arm to make a grab at Calvin. Just as he was about to seize the boy, there was a sound of a laser discharge and the monstrous arachnid was flung from the tree, landing on his back in a crumpled heap on the forest floor.

Calvin watched as Tigatron strode around the tree, pointing his gun at the spider. "You will _not_ take this boy, predacon." the maximal growled.

The spider pulled itself onto its feet, hissing furiously. "Tarantulas, _Terrorize!_" He transformed into his robot mode – a great brute with hook-like claws for hands with his spider legs protruding off the sides of his arms. And at the tips of those legs, rounds of bullets started rapidly firing out at Tigatron, machine gun like.

Tigatron rolled to dodge the onslaught and turned to fire rounds of his own. His blasts met their mark, hitting Tarantulas' spindly guns and severing them.

The predacon retched hideously as his weapons were torn from him. Seething, he pulled out a hand held gun with a sinister harpoon-like protrusion pointing out of it. He turned to fire at Tigatron, but the maximal had vanished from view.

From his perch in the tree, Calvin watched as a frustrated Tarantulas stalked around, seeking his lost opponent. As he crept about, the maximal reappeared in his tiger form. He stalked forward and lunged at the predacon, pouncing on his back and digging his claws into him.

Tarantulas shrieked in pain as Tigatron ripped up his backside. He attempted to reach behind him to pull Tigatron off, but he just couldn't reach. He then dashed backwards, crashing into the trunk of the tree. There was a loud _'Oof'_ from Tigatron as he suddenly found himself squashed between the tree and Tarantulas' back. Tarantulas then grabbed the maximal by his head and flung him over his shoulder to the ground. And before Tigatron could make a break for it, Tarantulas stomped on his tail, pinning him in place, and pointed his weapon at the maximal's head.

Calvin knew he would have to do something, and do it quick. On an impulse, he grabbed the time machine and climbed in. He shoved off from the branches and rocketed down toward the battling robots below.

"Well, isn't this a nice bonus?" Tarantulas oozed. "I found the human, and we'll have one less maximal to worry about." Tigatron growled defiantly as the predacon made ready to fire. "Lights out, pussycat."

Just as he made to pull the trigger, something struck him in the back of the head, knocking him off balance. Righting himself, he gawked slightly as the human whelp flew around him in what appeared to be a flying box.

"How d'ya like them apples, Daddy long-legs?" the boy jeered, hefting a rock in his hand. "Plenty more where that came from!" he then zipped back around and lobbed the rock at Tarantulas, hitting him in the shoulder.

Tarantulas had had enough. He turned his gun on the human and fired. The shot struck the box in its corner which sent it rocketing off at breakneck speed. "Typical human." the spider chuckled "You can dish it out, but you can't take it."

"_I_ can take it." a voice from behind said.

Tarantulas turned around, only only for Tigatron's fist to connect with his face. He stumbled backward and fell at the base of the tree.

Tigatron stood over him with a grim expression. "I can dish it out, too." the maximal snarled before pointing his gun at him and firing.

* * *

Calvin yelped as Tarantulas' shot hit the time machine. He wasn't sure if it was the initial blast, or if his panic had caused him to hit something, but the box suddenly sped up, shooting forward like a bullet. The sudden acceleration caused Calvin to fall out of the time machine and tumble to the floor. He managed to pull himself up, but what he saw caused his heart to fall. The time machine sped forward until there was a shocking loud bang and the air rippled as the box dispersed into the time stream.

"... _No._" Calvin moaned as the realization of what had happened dawned on him. "_No..._ " he repeated as he slumped to the ground.

He didn't know how long he remained there; a few minutes, several hours, days, years, it simply didn't matter; the time machine was gone, and all their hopes with it.

At length, he felt something nudge him in the side. "Calvin,..." a gruff voice said. "are you alright?"

Calvin slowly turned to see Tigatron staring at him concernedly. "... It's gone." he managed to croak out. "The time machine shot into the time stream. Our only hope of getting back home... is lost."

Tigatrons eyes widened as Calvin retold the event. He then bowed his head morosely. "Then we must return to base." he said, solemnly. "Optimus will need to be apprised of the situation.

Calvin nodded glumly as he stiffly pulled himself up, however, the maximal leader was the last thing he was concerned with. Right now, the only thing going through his mind was _'What am I gonna tell Susie?'_

"Can you walk?" Tigatron asked. "Or shall I carry you?"

S'alright." Calvin muttered. "I think I can manage." He started walking back toward the ship, but as he turned, he saw something that took his mind off the present situation. "Whoa, what happened to him?" Calvin pointed at Tarantulas' body laying at the roots of the tree. The predacon's body was much paler than it had been and looked almost frosty, and though it looked as if he were making some motion, he didn't move so much as an inch.

"He was on the receiving end of one of my frost bombs." Tigatron answered matter-of-factly.

"Wow." Calvin whistled in awe, but then stalled. "Wait a minute. You can freeze your enemies solid? Why didn't you do that in the first place?"

"That kind of attack takes a lot of power and it is not vary accurate." Tigatron answered. "So I prefer to use it only when I have a clear shot – or in desperation."

"Oh." Calvin replied, going over to get a closer look. "Is he... dead?"

"He will thaw out eventually." Tigatron answered. "Which is all the more reason we should get moving."

Calvin turned and followed Tigatron as he lead the way back to the Axalon.

* * *

The trek back to the ship was long and heavy. Throughout the journey, worst case scenarios of what would happen when the the bomb was dropped kept playing through Calvin's mind. He kept imagining all sorts of ways everyone would react when they found out he had lost the time machine. They weren't pleasant.

The setting sun had washed the landscape in a golden glow by the time they reached the ship. Calvin looked up at it and sighed heavily, as if he were gazing at his own coffin. "I guess it's time to face the music." he stated in a grim monotone.

"Do not fear." Tigatron said softly. "The others may be disappointed, but they will understand... once the circumstances have been explained."

"F'you say so." Calvin grumbled. "Whatever case, there's _no_ way this is gonna end well."

"There is no need to despair." Tigatron replied. "Even in the gravest of circumstance, there is always reason to hope. Things will work out, you will see."

"You're sure about that?" Calvin asked, bitingly.

"Of course." Tigatron said, evenly. "Even the brightest of diamonds was once a lump of coal. Come now, let us press on." he proceeded toward the Axalon, leaving Calvin to mull over his last words for a moment.

"Do all tigers wax philosophical, or just the ones _I_ know?" Calvin asked to no one as he followed his robot guide.

As they marched onward to the ship, there was a rush of air above them. As they looked up, Airrazor descended to the ground in front of them. And to Calvin's surprise, stationed right behind the fembot's head was the relieved looking face of Susie.

She climbed down from Airrazor's back and rushed over to her partner. "Calvin, you're back!" she exclaimed, running up to him with a wide smile on her face. Calvin watched in what seemed like slow motion as her enormous smile slowly grew smaller and smaller until melting into an expression of puzzlement as she realized something was amiss. "Uh,... w-where is the time machine?"

As Calvin met her gaze, his own face melted into a look of sorrow. He turned over to Tigatron, giving him a significant look. Catching the expression, Tigatron gave a brief nod then continued walking toward the ship, gesturing for Airrazor to follow.

Turning back to Susie, Calvin heaved a heavy sigh and pressed the binder he had recovered into her hands. "Sit down, Susie." he told her.


	7. It's Never so Bad it Can't get Worse

To Susie's credit, she didn't yell when Calvin told her about losing the time machine. In fact, aside from a sharp gasp when he came to the actual event, she was strangely quiet.

She sat there for a time after Calvin had finished retelling the events that had transpired, seemingly at a loss for words. When she finally spoke, her first words were "Are you alright?"

Calvin was taken aback. He hadn't quite expected this. "Er, uh,... what do you mean?"

"You're not hurt, or anything?" Susie reiterated.

"Uh,... no." Calvin stammered. "Got banged up a bit, but I'm okay, otherwise."

"Good." Susie replied, rising up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're a pain in the neck, but I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

As she turned away from him, Calvin was left pondering on what she had said. _'if she_ lost _him'_? What did she mean by that? Was this same girl who he had always teased and tormented (and who always responded in kind) actually expressing some form of endearment?

Whatever other thoughts he might have had were interrupted by Susie. "So, what now?" she asked.

He turned to see her gazing up at the Axalon, contemplatively. "... Huh?" he asked.

She turned back to him. "What are we going to do, now that we lost the time machine?"

Calvin shrugged glumly. "Well, what can we do? If we're lucky, this war will be over soon and the maximals'll find a way to take us back."

Susie cocked an eyebrow. "And if the predacons win?" she asked rhetorically.

"Well if the preds win, we'll probably be dead, so it really wouldn't matter."

Susie looked at him incredulously. "... and, if the war doesn't end soon?" she prodded.

"If the war doesn't end soon, we'll probably be dead, so it really wouldn't matter."

Susie's face fell entirely. She looked at him agog and aghast. "That's it?" she finally stammered. "You're just going to give up?"

Calvin was surprised by this sudden change in tone. Without thinking, he quickly responded. "Well, do _you_ have any better ideas?" he bit back. "Without a working time machine, we're not exactly swamped with options!"

"Couldn't you make another one?" Susie countered.

"Out of _what?_" Calvin nearly laughed manically. "I don't see any supplies to build with!"

"Well, look around you!" Susie was almost frantic now. "There's coconuts, palm fronds, bamboo shoots. You're the _genius_ here, think of something!"

" – _bamboo and coconuts?_ What am I, the professor from 'Gilligan's Island?"

Susie huffed, crossing her arms. "You made your first one out of _cardboard_. I'd like to see the professor pull _that_ off. Besides, if a time machine made of cardboard can work, then why couldn't one made of bamboo work as well?"

Calvin had to think for a second at that. "I,.. it, it just wouldn't!"

"You know what _I _think?" Susie barked, her hands on her hips.

"I think you're about to tell me." Calvin retorted.

"I think you just don't _want_ to get back to the future."

"... _What?_" Calvin gawked. "What possible reason could I have for staying here?"

"Well, let's see." Susie began ticking off with her fingers. "If you stayed here, you wouldn't have to finish that report, you wouldn't have to do _any_ sort of school work, for that matter. You wouldn't have any chores, you'd never have to find a job,"

"Oh yeah!" Calvin butted in. " If I stayed here, all I'd have to do is forage for food, hang out in a cool alien spaceship that's constantly under attack and avoid being pulverized by an army of killer robots! Yep, that's _my_ idea of a dream vacation!"

"Come _on_, Calvin." Susie almost pleaded. "There has to be _something_ you can do!"

"And I'm telling you, there _isn't!_"

Susie heaved a weary sigh. "You know what, Mr. Burges was right."

Calvin was perplexed at this change of tone. "What? What was Mr. Burges right about?"

"You have so much talent, Calvin." Susie continued. "There's so much you could do, so much you could _be_, but you waste it all! You spend all your time and energy in these worthless little fantasies of yours that you never get anything significant accomplished. You take nothing seriously."

"Yeah, well you're no better." Calvin growled.

Susie's gaze snapped to him. "... Ex_cuse me?_" she gawked.

"You say I don't take anything seriously, well you take everything _too_ seriously! You're always so uptight about everything, planning everything out in exacting, minute detail and when things don't work out the way you want them to, you go ballistic!"

Susie looked hurt for a moment. Then her expression briefly changed to contemplative before morphing back to angry. "Don't you try and turn this back on me," she snarled. "just because you can't come to grips with your own shortcomings, –"

"_Shortcoming?_" Calvin balked. "When did this become about my shortcomings?"

"You're just so – so... _Eeeerrraagh!_" for a moment, it looked like she was about to strangle him. Then she stopped short, dropping her shoulders in a huff. She looked up at him with a dark expression. "You know what, I can't deal with this right now." she growled angrily.

She turned and tromped away from him.

After getting over the initial shock of what had just happened, Calvin called out to her. "Yeah, that's right Susie! Just go ahead and prove my point!"

Susie made no indication that she heard him, she just kept on walking.

Calvin watched her retreating form getting further and further away. He snorted impetuously and turned toward the ship. Then with an uncomfortable twinge, the words of their argument began echoing through his mind.

He turned around again and watched as Susie retreated further into the distance. He wanted to call out to her then. To call out and – and what? He wasn't quite sure _what_ exactly, but he knew he didn't want to leave it like this. There had to be something he could do, something he could say. Then again, he rationalized, Susie was so mad right now that nothing he said would probably have any positive effect.

And with that glum thought, he turned around, once again, and headed toward the Axalon. Once inside the spaceship, he stalked to the room Optimus had provided for them.

On the way, he passed by Rattrap. "Hey, the conquerin' hero!" the maximal greeted in an obnoxiously chipper voice. "How'd it go, kid?"

Calvin tromped past him without so much as a second glance.

"Okay, then." he heard in the distance as he entered the room.

* * *

Susie was fuming mad. Why did this always have to happen? She thought bitterly as she stomped through the dirt. Why did Calvin always make her so mad? Why was it every time she tried talking to him, it ended up as some contest of wills? Why couldn't he just admit he was wrong and be done with it?

She sat down on a rock and rested her head on her palms. Calvin could easily figure out some way of getting them back home, she was sure of it. He just didn't want to for his own selfish reasons!

Gloomily, she thought back on their conversation. It had not gone the way she wanted it to at all; she had only wanted to find out what Calvin's next plan was, not drop off into some tirade. But then, could she really have expected better from a stubborn, pig-headed, insolent dolt like Calvin?

As she was brooding on these dark thoughts, she felt a sudden pressure on her shoulders that pulled her forward and lifted her off of the ground. Must be Airrazor, she thought. The maximal must have seen her wandering off and decided to bring her back to the ship.

Susie looked up to tell the femmbot off, then gasped. What she saw above her was not the friendly maximal femme, but the sinister red form of Terrorsaur.

The predacon glared down at her with his cold, blue eye. "Shouldn't have left the safety of the security grid, girly." he croaked, turning his toothy beak up in a vile grin. "Let's go. Megatron wants a word with you."

Susie released all the air in her lungs in a scream of abject terror while Terrorsaur carried her away to the predacon lair – and her assured doom.

* * *

Hobbes was discouraged. He had had no success in locating his friend. It was going on evening now and there was still no sign of the two time travelers.

He slowly plodded back to the house, dread over the prospect of what had happened to them constantly buzzing through his mind. He always knew the box was bad news, now he'd lost his best friend to it. What could have happened that they would lose themselves like this? What was he going to do? What would their parents do when they didn't come home? All these thoughts nagged at him as he made his lonely trek.

Then suddenly, his head shot up. Up ahead, he heard a loud _bang!_ And as much as he despised that noise, he would recognize it anywhere – the time machine had returned.

With renewed vigor, he dashed forward, running on all fours to where the noise had sounded from. Then he stopped short. Up ahead, on the front lawn of the house, stood the time machine. But instead of two children disembarking from it, he saw one weathered old man wearing a weird robe of sorts.

The old man climbed out of the box and looked about his surroundings with what seemed to be a look of awe on his face. Who was this old codger, Hobbes wondered. It couldn't be Calvin. Could it? If it was Calvin, how could he have stayed so long in the past to get so old? And where was Susie? Tentatively, he stepped closer to the old man. As he got closer, he caught a good whiff of the man's scent – that definitely _wasn't_ Calvin.

With a subtle growl, Hobbes crept toward the man with teeth bared. The man continued looking around the area until his gaze fell on Hobbes. "Ah, you there, feline." he said when he saw him. "Would you be so good as to tell me what year it is?"

Hobbes stopped short; aside from Calvin, no human had ever spoken to him before – well, spoken to him and expected him to reply. He must have puzzled over this for a time, because the old man felt he needed to reiterate. "Er, excuse me,... the year?"

"Uh,... nineteen eighty nine." said Hobbes, coming out of his stupor.

"Nineteen hundred and eighty..." the man mused, stroking his iron gray beard. "Extraordinary, simply extraordinary."

Hobbes looked at the old man, a shrewd expression on his face. "Yeah, uh, who are – "

"And now, if you would be so kind as to tell me where this is, exactly." the man interrupted him.

"Uh, *Missouri. Look,"

"Mis_sour_i,..." the old man repeated, chewing on the word. "Is that near Sussex?" he appended after a moment.

"Sussex?" Hobbes repeated. "That's in England, right? That's all the way across the Atlantic."

"The... Atlantic?" the man asked, curiously.

Hobbes stared blankly ahead, wondering just where this nut job had come from. "Yeah, k'now, the _ocean! _Look, you're across the sea _west_ of England."

"Ah, I see." the man said. "So this is Ireland, then."

Hobbes stared, flabbergasted. "Yyyyy_yyyeah_. Listen, don't mean to be rude, but – _who are you?_"

"Ah yes," the old man stuttered. "forgive me. My name is Merlin."

"_Pfft._ Merlin." Hobbes scoffed. The old man continued staring at him without any change in his expression. "Wait, Merlin?" he stammered. "Like _Merlin_ Merlin?... As in the Court Wizard of King Arthur? _That_ Merlin?"

"Ah, so you have heard of me!" Merlin smiled.

Hobbes looked at the old man incredulously for a moment or two, then shrugged dismissively. After all, he had experienced monsters, aliens, transformations, dinosaurs and a plethora of other bizarre occurrences with Calvin. So, a mythical wizard out of legend, why not?

"Alright," he continued. "so I'll just work under the assumption that you are Merlin. I suppose the more pertinent question now is how did you get this box?"

"Ah." Merlin stroked his beard, contemplatively. "Yes, that was, in fact, a rather odd incident.

"I remember it well. I was in my laboratory one night when I heard a sudden loud noise – the likes of which I had never heard before. In an instant, this box simply appeared out of thin air and crashed itself into the wall."

Hobbes stared at the wizard, eyes wide and mouth agape.

Merlin continued. "At first, I was afraid it might have been one of Morgan's devices and promptly locked it away. After a time, my curiosity over the box grew and I pulled it out with the intent to discover its secrets.

"It was three years before I realized it was temporal energies the box emitted and formed the theory that it had come from another time. And then it was another five years of experimentation before I divined how to operate it. And then, naturally, I needed to see whether I was correct in my experimentations. And, as you can see, I was." the wizard finished his retelling with a smile.

To Merlin's surprise, Hobbes looked horror struck. "This is a disaster!" he shouted.

Merlin looked startled. "A... _disaster?_ – Well, I suppose tampering with an unpredictable force such as time would indeed have certain – "

"No, no, no!" Hobbes interrupted. "You see, my friend – the guy who _made_ this time machine – he and this girl from school were assigned to write a paper on this one war. So Calvin got this brilliant idea (well, actually, it was kind of stupid) to travel back in time to see the war for themselves. They were in _that_ time machine and it came back without them... which means they must be stuck in the past." his face completely fell as he retold what had happened.

Merlin listened silently as Hobbes retold the events. When the tiger had finished, he gave a soft, ponderous hum. "I can see how that might be viewed as a disaster." he said. "However, this can be easily rectified."

"Seriously?" Hobbes looked up at him.

"Of course!" Merlin exclaimed. "We have the time machine here. All we have to do is travel back in time, find your friends and bring them back to the present."

The old man smiled broadly as he expressed his thoughts. Hobbes looked at him nervously. Calvin had worn smiles like that before – and nothing good ever came about from them.

"Of course," Merlin continued. "If there are going to be four of us, then we shall require a larger vessel – that should do."

Hobbes looked to where the wizard was facing. "Oh no way!" he moaned when he saw that Merlin's gaze rested on Calvin's parent's car.

* * *

Calvin slumped against the wall. He shut his eyes and thought back ruefully to the argument he and Susie had just had. Even after several minutes, all the energy, frustration and anger produced from their shouting match was still very present in him.

Susie was just being stubborn, there was no other way to put it. She wanted to get back home so badly that she wouldn't listen to reason. Calvin grimaced as these thoughts crawled through his mind. _Well she'll see sooner or later_. He thought bitterly. _She'll realize I was right._

"Perhaps she'll realize it sooner if you were of a less aggressive disposition."

Calvin's eyes snapped open. Someone was in the room. He quickly scanned the area, looking for the source of the voice.

When he turned his head to the side, he was shocked to see – himself. Well, not _himself_, per say, but it was some sort of miniaturized figure of himself with a red hood and cape draped over its head.

"What the – " he gawked. "What is _this_ fresh madness?"

"I am _Stupendous Man!_" the tiny figure boisterously proclaimed. "Champion of liberty! Foe of tyranny! Vindicator of – "

"_Yeah, I know_ _who you are!_ But what are you doing here, and why are you two inches tall?" Calvin interrupted.

"He's here to make a pansy outta ya. Don't listen to a word he says." another voice stated. Calvin looked around to see another tiny version of himself – this one wearing the newspaper hat he donned as the Dictator-for-life of his club, G.R.O.S.S.

Calvin's jaw went slack. He looked back and forth at the two figures, trying to make sense of this weirdness. "Oh wait a minute," it finally dawned on him. "Is this one of those shoulder angel bits? Where you're gonna tell to do the right thing and you're gonna tell me to do what I'm gonna do anyway?"

"You really should make amends to Susie." the shoulder angel stated. "It is the very least you can do."

"Eh, so Derkin's little baby feelings got hurt! Whatsit to ya?" the shoulder devil retorted.

Calvin groaned. "_Yep, called_ that _one._"

"You brought Susie into the past." Good Calvin continued. "In a way, you _are_ responsible for anything that happens to her."

"She wasn't even _supposed_ to come!" Evil Calvin countered. "She's got no one to blame but herself!"

"A simple apology would start the repairing process." Good Calvin said.

"She _started_ the whole thing!" Evil Calvin barked. "If there's gonna any apologizing, _she_ should do it _first!_"

"One must be willing to make restitution, even if they are not at fault."

Calvin snapped to attention. "Wait, who said that?" He looked to his shoulder angel and devil who both shrugged. He then cast his eyes around the room until they landed on a miniature form of Hobbes.

Calvin was surprised by this appearance – not only for seeing a tiny Hobbes appear, but because this apparition was uncharacteristically clothed; dressed like a knight in a mail shirt, coif, gauntlets and grieves with a sword strapped at his waist.

"Oh _this_ is hilarious." Calvin said with no trace of hilarity. "What are you doing here?"

"It seemed that you were having a bit of difficulty coming to a decision." the apparition replied. "So I thought I would give my input."

"Ar, as if that'll help anything." another new voice chimed in.

Calvin turned to see another tiny Hobbes, this one dressed like a pirate, complete with breeches, cutlass and tricorn hat.

"_Oy vey_." Calvin groaned, leaning back and massaging his temples.

After that, the two angels and the two devils continued pressing their arguments to him. Constant calls of '_you must apologize_', '_let her deal with her own problem_', '_just tell her you're sorry_', '_it's her own fault_', '_you must make peace with her and with yourself_', and '_why should you care about her?_' continuously assaulted his ears. No matter how hard he covered his ears, the words still echoed inside his skull, chiming through his subconscious and hammering into his soul.

"_ALRIGHT!_" he finally yelled, exasperatedly. The apparitions were silenced mid-sentence to look at him. "If I apologize to Susie, will you all go away?"

"... Yes." Good Calvin said.

"Fine." Calvin slumped his shoulders. "I'll do it."

"Splendid." Good Hobbes cried, far too chipper for Calvin's liking.

Good Calvin continued. "Now, the first thing you need to do is wake up."

Calvin's eyes popped open. He was still in the room and there was no one else around. He looked around the room for any sign of the apparitions, but the room was completely still.

He groaned as he stood up, rubbing his eyes. "... Maybe that fruit wasn't ripe." he grumbled as left the room to go find Susie.

* * *

**A\N:** *I don't know if this is the state Bill Watterson had in mind when he wrote _Calvin and Hobbes_, or if he _had_ any particular state in mind. All I know is that Hobbes once said that their house was next to a big letter _'E'_ in the word _'STATES'_. So I looked up a picture of the United States and the E ended up in Missouri. Now you're undoubtedly thinking _'well, that's only_ one _map.'_ and you'd be right. So I looked at other pictures of the U.S. and the E always ended up in about the same area.

So I hope you're all enjoying this story so far. Originally, I had planned for this to be part of the last chapter. But it was taking so long and I came to a good stopping point, so I figured we were due for an update. Maybe sometime in the future I'll combine the two chapters, but for now, enjoy.

Oh, and one more thing. For the sake of my own curiosity, I'd like to know; if I were to write another Calvin and Hobbes crossover or fusion in the future, what would you like to see it crossed with?


	8. Rash Actions

The landscape blew beneath Susie in a nauseating blur of brown and green. She was surprised scenes of her life weren't flashing along with it. Tears leaked out of her eyes to be swept away on the wind as she was left to dread over her ordeal and the upcoming meeting that would assuredly mark her final moments.

Overhead, Terrorsaur was only making matters worse with his self-assured, sinister chuckling – occasionally punctuated with smarmy comments, like 'Enjoying the scenery, toots?' and 'This'll show Megatron'

Eventually, there appeared on the horizon a large black dot. As they flew onward, the dot grew larger until Susie could clearly make out the shape of an alien spaceship.

Without warning, Terrorsaur dropped her. She felt a brief rush of falling before being grabbed again. She looked up to see the predacon now in his robot form smirking at her maliciously. He swooped down, carrying her through an opening in the ship's side and down a dark hallway.

"Megatron!" Terrorsaur crowed as they entered the bridge of the Dark Side. He flew Susie up to what had to be a command chair where sat a truly terrible looking robot. "Look Megatron, I got the girl!" Terrorsaur triumphantly proclaimed, holding Susie in front of him.

Megatron looked down at Susie through angry red optics. His merciless face melted into a sneer. "I wanted them _both_, Terrorsaur!" the predacon commander growled. "Where is the boy?"

"He wasn't around!" Terrorsaur snapped irritably. "The girl was out by herself, I saw an opportunity and took it!"

Megatron's expression turned even more sour. "Idiot! Once Optimus realizes the girl is gone, he will surely put extra security around the boy."

"_Big deal!_" Terrorsaur screamed, shaking Susie. "We've got the girl, I don't see why we need to _have_ both of them!"

Megatron's mouth turned up in a condescending smirk. "Yet another example of why you are _not_ in command." his tone was like that of a parent patronizing an unruly child. "I want them both. That is all the reason you need. Now get back out there and bring him in!"

"_NO!_" were Susie to reflect back on the experience, she couldn't say what, exactly, compelled her to it, but after hearing the exchange between the two predacons, she felt like she should fight back somehow. She swung her foot back as far as it would go and launched it with all the force she could exert straight into Megatron's torso.

Had she given a bit more thought to the action, she might have realized what an incredibly bad idea that was.

She winced, breathing heavily as pain blazed through her foot. Her sudden outburst caused Terrorsaur and a completely unfazed Megatron to turn their attention down to her.

Megatron's smirk reappeared as he clutched her face with his hand. "Impressive, girl." he said smoothly. "I don't know what you thought that would accomplish, but you demonstrate an admirable determination. _Yeeesssss._"

Terrorsaur chuckled. "Maybe she's concerned about her little boyfriend."

Megatron hummed thoughtfully. "Well, not to worry my dear. He will be joining us soon enough. But for now, Blackarachnia!"

A new robot with a black and gold color scheme drifted over on some sort of levitating platform. "Yes, Megatron?" she said in a dry, bored voice.

"Escort our guest to the holding chamber." the predacon leader commanded. "I want her under _constant_ supervision."

"Of course, Megatron." Blackarachnia responded as she grabbed Susie in a pincer-like hand and hoisted her onto the platform. "_After all, it's not as if I have anything better to do than to babysit some human brat._"she grumbled darkly as she carried Susie away while Megatron and Terrorsaur resumed their argument.

The predacon fembot piloted the platform through dark and dismal corridors that led deep into the wretched underbelly of the ship.

They flew out into a large chamber where what were unmistakably cages hung suspended from the ceiling. Below them, steaming hot lava boiled up where the floor had been torn away; a result of the ships crash landing.

Blackarachnia flew the platform over to one of the hanging cages. She shoved Susie none-too-gently inside and slammed the door behind her. The fembot then transformed, becoming a giant, black spider. She crawled up onto the face of the cage and Susie saw a red mark on her abdomen – the hourglass of a black widow. "Now, you wouldn't be stupid enough to try escaping, would you?" the spider cooed acidly.

Susie backed up to the other end of the cage and slumped to the floor, whimpering.

"Thought so." Blackarachnia declared. "Now you be a good little girl and stay put. I've got _real_ work to do." she made her way across the roof of the cage and skittered up the cage's chain and out of sight.

Susie was left to herself now. She hugged her knees to her chest, bemoaning her fate. This was the end of it, she just knew it. Any time now, the predacons would be back for her to deal out any number of unthinkable tortures. And she doubted it would be very long before she was broken by whatever means they employed.

Escape was out of the question. Even if she could get out of the cage, Blackarachnia's platform had drifted away (some sort of computerized homing beacon, she surmised) and there was a very long drop into very hot lava beneath her. And to top it all off, her foot was still hurting like crazy and would undoubtedly prove a handicap.

And so,with any hope she might have carried dashed to pieces, Susie did the only thing she could in her position. She curled up on the cage floor and let the tears she had valiantly held back silently fall.

* * *

Hobbes strode into the yard holding a necklace belonging to Calvin's mom in his paw. On the driveway, Merlin was leaning into the car doing something to the interior. Strange lights and noises emitted from out of the open door.

"Alright," he said when Merlin had climbed out. "this is the biggest rock Calvin's mom has."

Merlin took the necklace and examined the diamond at the end of it. "Yes, this should do nicely." he mused.

He popped the diamond out of it's setting and turned back to working in the car.

Hobbes hummed as he looked about the inside of the car. The box sat in the middle of the back seat with several copper wires sticking out of it and flowing into the car's dashboard. Merlin began incorporating the diamond into the wire complex.

"Is all this really necessary?" Hobbes asked.

"I assure you it is quite necessary." Merlin replied. "Theses wires will transfer the box's time traveling capabilities into the larger vehicle; the diamond will help to focus the energy into – "

"Alright, I get it!" Hobbes sighed in weary exasperation.

Merlin looked at him a bit gob smacked. "Er,... yes. Well, it shouldn't be much longer. A few more minutes, perhaps a half hour, and we will be ready to retrieve your friends." he returned to working in the car.

Hobbes smiled, relieved that they were finally making some headway, though he still had some concerns regarding the process. "Are you _sure_ this is going to work?" he asked.

"Of course!" Merlin replied from inside the car. "After all, you are speaking to the man who built Stonehenge."

Hobbes rolled his eyes absently. He watched as Merlin continued dutifully working inside the car – probing, prodding and adjusting various bits and parts, occasionally causing weird lights and sounds to emit. As he watched, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Something on your mind?" Merlin asked, after hearing him.

Hobbes turned his attention to the old man. "Oh, it just occurred to me that it's the eighties and I'm watching an eccentric old man convert a car into a time machine – all that's missing is for you to shout _'Great Scott!'_"

"Bah." Merlin huffed. "I have seen the Scots. They are not so great."

"Right – so we're almost ready to go?"

"Very nearly. Only a few more adjustments, and shall be on our way."

"Good." Hobbes sighed, leaning back. As he watched the wizard continue his work, he felt a strange sense of calmness; a sort of familiarity. As he thought about it, it occurred to him that this would probably be like watching Calvin seventy years from now.

There was a sudden loud crackling sound from the car, accompanied by a bright light and what sounded like something large and heavy flipping around.

Merlin hummed. "I wonder if it's supposed to be doing that."

Hobbes shut his eyes exasperatedly. This would definitely be Calvin in seventy years.

* * *

"So I guess we're not going home after all." Cheetor said warily.

"Not today." Rhinox's reply was calm, yet glum. News of Calvin's run-in with Tarantulas, and the loss of the time machine the previous day had spread quickly. It was a somber bunch that now met around the table.

Rattrap sighed bitterly. "That's what happens when ya get your hopes up."

"Admit it, Rattrap!" Cheetor countered. "You were hoping we'd be going home, too!"

"Yeah? Well what's it matter? We got no time machine and the ship's still as dead as ever! We're gonna be stuck on this rock for the rest of our miserable lives! All because that kid screwed up a simple retrieval!"

"Ease up!" Rhinox reprimanded. "The kid tried! And he couldn't have done any better, given the circumstances."

"Besides, if anyone's to blame here, it's Tarantulas." Cheetor added.

"Eh, whatever." Rattrap sneered, clearly still irate about the whole affair.

Just then, Calvin wandered into the control room. He was bleary eyed and rubbing his temples, like he had just woken up from a bad dream.

He looked up and saw the three maximals looking at him. "... Oh, hey guys." he warbled. "Any of you seen Susie?"

"Nope, haven't seen her." Rhinox replied. Cheetor and Rattrap shook their heads as well.

Calvin hummed. "Well if she comes around, would you tell her I want to talk?" and he ducked back out the doorway.

The maximals all returned to their duties, attempting to get their minds off the present situation and not giving much more thought to the humans.

In a matter of minutes, Calvin came back. This time he was scratching his head and his expression looked to be somewhere between concerned and annoyed. "I've looked this whole ship over, she doesn't seem to be anywhere! Are you guys sure you haven't seen her?"

"Positive." Cheetor replied. "Haven't seen her since you two left yesterday."

_Not since then?_ Calvin thought. He then turned to Rhinox. "Hey, Jolly Green Giant, does this ship have some sort of locating device?"

"Yes, but – "

Calvin dashed over to the control panel without a second word. "Computer, locate Susie Derkins!"

The machinery beeped and a computerized voice responded "No unit of that designation exists."

Calvin looked back in surprise. He surprise than turned to irritation. "Computer," he said through gritted teeth. "locate Susie Derkins."

"No unit of that designation exists."

Calvin seriously felt like punching the computer. Then an idea occurred to him. "Computer, locate Calvin Mitchell."

"No unit of that designation exists."

"_Whaddaya mean I don't exist? I'm standing right here!_"

"The computer isn't designed to locate organic life forms." Rhinox irritably explained as he picked Calvin up and put him away from the interface.

"Oh." Calvin said, sheepishly. "I guess that would make sense." He turned and started pacing about, scratching his scalp anxiously determining where else she might be.

Logically, if she wasn't anywhere on the ship, then she must be still outside. But she wouldn't have stayed outside all night, would she? Surely she must have come in at some time. Then again, she clearly wasn't on the ship. Oh well, he might as well take a look anyway, just to be sure.

* * *

As he exited the ship, Calvin immediately came upon a set of tracks in the dirt – his own tracks leading back into the ship. He followed them backwards and soon came to the area where he and Susie had had their disagreement. And as he observed the area, he saw a set of tracks, which must have been Susie's, leading away from the area.

He followed the prints as they led him away from the Axalon. "Man she went off a long way." Calvin said to himself. "I didn't think I'd upset her _that_ much. It looks like she heading to – but that's ridiculous. She wouldn't go back into the jungle." All the same, he picked up the pace.

He dashed down the path, following the prints until they suddenly and abruptly ended. Calvin looked flabbergasted at the sight; the tracks simply stopped and Susie was still nowhere in sight.

He thought aloud. "It's almost as if she – " a sudden idea struck him. Hurriedly, he charged back to the Axalon.

"Airrazor!" he shouted when he got back to the ship. "_Airrazor!_"

In a few moments, the fembot appeared before him. "Yes, what's the matter?" She asked in a concerned voice.

Calvin huffed, catching his breath. "Susie! You didn't pick her up, did you?"

"No." Airrazor answered. "I haven't seen her since you and Tigatron returned." She regarded him critically. "Why?"

"Her tracks – I followed her tracks away from the ship. They just abruptly ended."

"Ended?" Airrazor replied

"Yeah! And there's some clods of dirt right in front of them – like she was suddenly pulled off of the ground; like something swooped out of the sky and carried her off! And, if it wasn't you, then it had to've been – "

"_Terrorsaur!_" Airrazor finished with wide-eyed realization. "Come on," she turned, gesturing for him to follow. "we'll have to inform Optimus!"

It didn't take long to locate the maximal leader; he stood in the central room conferring with some of the other maximals. When he came into sight, an almost frantic Calvin practically barreled into him.

"_Optimus!_" Calvin wailed. "_Susie! Tracks, jungle! Disappeared! Terrorsaur! Gone, Susie!_"

"Calm down." Optimus admonished, placing his hands on Calvin's shoulders. "Now, take a deep breath and _slowly_ tell me what happened."

Calvin did as instructed. When he had sufficiently calmed, he continued. "Susie's gone!" he exclaimed.

"What? How?" Optimus demanded as the other maximals gaped at him.

"Her tracks lead off toward the jungle, but then they just abruptly stop! And she's nowhere in sight!"

"We have reason to believe that Terrorsaur abducted her." Airrazor supplied.

"Hmmm, I see." Optimus mused contemplatively.

"What?" Calvin shouted. "That's _all_ you've got to say, _I see_? Were you not listening; Susie's been kidnapped! Come _on_ man, _DO SOMETHING!_"

"Calm down, Calvin." Optimus ordered. "This is not the time to get overexcited."

"It's the perfect time to get overexcited! The preds have Susie! Who knows what sort of things they'll do to her! We've got to get her back somehow!... I,... I'll get her back _myself_ if I have to!"

Dinobot snarled. "And how do you intend to do that, _boy?_"

Calvin stammered, taken aback by Dinobot's question. "I... uh,... I'll, I'll figure something out!"

"_You?_" the maximal warrior challenged. "You wouldn't stand a chance against Megatron's forces. He has six battle hardened warriors at his command as well as an array of weapons the likes of which you've never seen before; whereas you are flesh and blood. Not only that, you are a mere _child!_"

Rattrap heaved a weary sigh. "I hate to agree with ol' choppah face, but he's got a point kid."

"Yes," Optimus agreed. "Calvin, I think it would be best if you return to your quarters. The rest of will confer on a course of action."

Calvin stared at the maximal leader, first in surprise, then hurt and then bitterly. "What? No! If you're gonna do something, I wanna be included!"

"Calvin, you're too emotionally involved." Optimus's voice was calm, yet stern. "You can't be of any help here."

"You don't understand!" Calvin protested. "I have to help! It's my fault she's here! I,... I'm responsible for her."

"The best way you can help is to stay out of the way." Optimus's word was final, leaving no room for argument. But that wasn't going to stop Calvin.

Calvin crossed his arms obstinately, glaring at Optimus and the maximals gathered behind him. "Look. I'm not going anywhere." he stated impertinently, stamping his foot to emphasize his point. "The more time we sit here arguing, the more time Susie sits in Megatron's clutches. So just include me in your plans so we can get her back, already!"

Optimus sighed heavily. "Calvin, you are far too stubborn for your own good.

"War is no place for children, it's too dangerous. If you get involved, you will likely be killed. Now I ask you one more time, return to your quarters and leave this to us."

Calvin's only response was to stare irately back at him.

Optimus sighed again. "Well, I hoped it wouldn't come to this. Rattrap, escort Calvin back to his quarters and make sure he doesn't leave."

Rattrap grunted in acknowledgment and ushered Calvin out of the room. Calvin tried to struggle, but despite Rattrap's diminutive size, his grip was too strong for Calvin to break out of.

As he was being led away, Calvin heard Dinobot's gravely hiss from the other room. "Optimus, this is folly! We cannot take such risks for a single human."

"And what you have us do?" Optimus replied.

"Leave her!" Dinobot snarled. "Even if we did retrieve her, she will likely be dead or damaged beyond repair. In any case, it is nothing worth dying for."

* * *

The other maximals looked aghast at Dinobot.

"C'mon Dinobot, you don't really mean that." Cheetor proded.

"I mean every word of it!" Dinobot countered. "We are not responsible for these children, you cannot honestly expect us to take unnecessary risks simply for their sake!"

"_I expect you to do as you are ordered!_" Optimus growled, putting his face dangerously close to Dinobot's for emphasis. "Now despite your predisposition against these kids, we _are_ responsible for them so long as they are staying with us."

The maximal leader took his gaze from the surly raptor to all the maximals gathered before him. "Now, we need to formulate a plan."

For the better part of an hour the maximals conferred, deciding on a plan that would achieve their goal with as little risk as possible. Eventually they came to a consensus on the best course of action.

"Are we all agreed, then?" Optimus asked. "You all know your parts?" The others all nodded, showing they were ready. "All right. I'll go inform Calvin about the plan."

Optimus strode out of the room, heading for the quarters where Calvin had been placed. He didn't quite get that far when something made him stop in his tracks. Down the corridor, Rattrap lay flat on the floor, his arms spread out and his head skewed to the side.

In an instant, the maximals had all gathered around their fallen comrade. They lifted him off the floor as he wearily regained consciousness.

"What happened, Rattrap?" Cheetor asked. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'll live." Rattrap warbled. He rubbed his head for a moment as he got his bearings. Then his expression hardened. "_Where's that kid?_" he growled.

The other maximals looked around; in the commotion of what had just transpired, they hadn't realized a crucial factor – Calvin was gone.

"What happened?" Optimus asked Rattrap.

"What happened?" Rattrap repeated. "I let go of him for one second and he beaned me, _that's_ what happened!"

"He hit you?" Rhinox asked sceptically. "He's only a boy, not even a teenager, he couldn't have knocked you out just by hitting you!"

"Well, he had some help." Rattrap irritably gestured to a wrench laying on the floor.

"Whoa." Cheetor gasped, being both astonished and amused by all of it. "So where d'you think he's gone, now?"

Optimus sighed, with his face in his hand; he had a feeling he knew where.

* * *

Calvin's feet pounded across the dusty terrain as he vindictively strode toward his goal. His temper flared like a savage volcano with angry, spiteful thoughts swarming through his mind. "_Stupid robots._" he growled to himself. "_Leave us to DIE, will they? Not significant enough to even ATTEMPT trying to save? Well, we'll just see about THAT._

"Don't worry Susie, I'm coming!" That is, if she was there – if she was alive. What if Dinobot was right, what if she really was... _NO_, she _had_ to be alive! Megatron wanted them alive, that creepy spider had said so yesterday.

So he trudged forth, plodding onward to the rescue.

After much time had passed, he found himself gazing over a ledge that led down into a stony crater where pools of lava boiled through the surface. And there in the middle of the crater sat the predacon ship, an elongated vessel with a set of wings jutting out and pointing toward the ships pointed end – like the head of the Devil's pitchfork rising out of the bowels of Hell.

The mere sight of this terrible place gave Calvin cause to pause for a moment to catch his breath. Had he been in a rational state of mind, he might have abandoned his mission right there; but there was no time for second guessing, Susie was on that ship and he had to get her out – at whatever cost.

* * *

Tigatron rushed along as fast as his feet could carry him. He couldn't believe that boy could do something so stupid as going to the predacons all by himself; and yet only a few minutes ago he received a call from Optimus detailing what had happened.

So now he found himself racing toward the predacon ship in hopes of catching up to the boy and stopping him before his hurt himself.

As he neared his destination, he kept his long-range scanners on full alert; both for Calvin and for other things. When he laid optics on the predacon ship, he thought he saw a tiny spec moving amongst the lava pools. As his optics zoomed in, he could clearly see that it was definitely Calvin. The impulsive human had traversed through the lava and had managed to creep into an opening in the ships hull.

"Slag!" Tigatron cursed to himself, stopping short. He tapped the com link on his wrist. "Optimus."

* * *

"Just doesn't make sense." Rhinox mused as he examined the wrench Calvin had knocked Rattrap out with – which was now bent at an acute angle. "There's no _way_ a human that small could swing such a small piece of metal with enough force to actually render someone unconscious."

"So what do you make of it?" Optimus inquired.

The burly maximal hummed irritably and shrugged. "Either that kid is _way_ stronger than he looks... or... there's something else going on."

He let the ominous statement hang in the air, as those who heard it were left to contemplate the ramifications of just what it could mean.

Optimus was brought out of his pondering when his com crackled. "Optimus." Tigatron's voice emerged from the com link.

"Yes, Tigatron. What is it?" Optimus responded.

"He's in."

The maximal leader heaved a sigh of consternation. "Well, that's just _prime_."


	9. You Call THIS a Rescue?

The Dark Side was appropriately named. Any lights within the ship's corridors were few and far between – and what lights there were gave off only the sparsest amounts of illumination.

Calvin thought of this as a favorable turn of luck. It made it all the easier to slink about the predacon vessel without running into it's occupants. "Okay; so far, so good." he said to himself as he made a dash from one shadow to another. "No sign of any preds - so all I have to do is figure out where Susie's being held, break her out and somehow get us both out of here without being caught... Yep, easy as pie." he crept down the hallway, clinging to the wall like a blind man while he trudged onward trying to decipher a way through the labyrinth of a ship. "Of course, if I keep talking to myself, it's likely that somone'll - "

"Scorponok, _terrorize_!" Calvin made a quick about face at the sound of shifting metal, the sound of a robot transforming. Directly in front of him stood the massive gray from of Scorponok.

" _- find me._" Calvin gulped, putting his hands up in the form of surrender.

Scorponok peered down at Calvin through a yellow vizor-like optic. His mouth opened in what could've been a grin. "Well what do ya know?" he mused, pointing his claw-concealed missile launcher at the intruder. "We've gone all out trying to find you, and you end up coming strait to us. Oh, Megatron will be pleased." he then turned his gaze to a distance behind Calvin. "Inferno!" he bellowed. "Come here!"

Calvin looked around at the sound of footsteps sounding against the metal floor. As he turned around, a gigantic red ant plowed into view. The ant turned it's gaze toward the other robot; Calvin wasn't sure, but it seemed like the ant looked irate.

"Why have I been summoned?" the ant – Inferno – demanded in a steely voice.

Scorponok prodded Calvin toward the ant with his claw cannon. "Take him to the brig." he ordered. "I will inform Megatron of his capture."

Inferno looked at the scorpion with what Calvin assumed was a glare of malice. "I serve none but the Royalty!" he proclaimed. "I am not some mongrel to be ordered about!"

Scorpokon's expression turned sour and his voice surly. "Don't give me that slag, Inferno. _I_ am second in command, _you will do_ as I say, or _Megatron_ will hear about this insubordination!"

Inferno fixed Scorponok with look of disdain. After a long and hostile moment, the ant finally submitted. "Very well... _commander_." he said, acidly. He than converted into his robot form – a hulking red giant with a silver, demonic face – and brandished an enormous gun which he aimed at Calvin. "Move." he ordered. Calvin was quick to comply.

Inferno marched Calvin further along the corridors of the ship – deeper into the heart of the predacon base; Calvin, fearful of rousing the ire of his captors, wisely remained silent throughout the trek. At length, they arrived at some sort of station where several hovering platforms were held. Inferno shoved him in the back with his gun. "Get on." he barked. Again, Calvin hurried to comply, jumping onto the nearest hover-board as quick as he could. The huge red robot stepped on after him and set the platform flying off to the holding cells.

* * *

Susie had never really given much thought to how she would die. At the very least, the had figured that she would be old and white haired by the time it happened; probably in a hospital bed with scores of family and friends around to spend her last precious hours with. She never once thought she would be barely nine, sitting alone in a cage held prisoner within an alien spaceship.

But that's the way it turned out. Once Megatron had gotten what he wanted from her, (and she shuddered to think what it _was_ he wanted.) they would no further reason to keep her and the most likely course of action they would take would be to kill her. Silently she prayed that her extermination would be swift, like snuffing out a candle – she desperately hoped the predacons weren't into torturing their victims.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted the sound of moving metal – like a steel door opening and closing. Then there was nothing else but the brooding silence.

"So, how long ya in for, toots?" sounded a voice from behind her.

She cringed, trying to curl into herself. "Shut up, Calvin." she replied. After a moment, the realization of the situation struck her. "CALVIN!" she cried as she turned around to see that Calvin was indeed locked in another cage behind her.

"It's me..." Calvin replied, giving her a corny grin.

Susie gripped the bars of her cell, beaming at Calvin with overwhelming emotion. "I can't believe it! You're here! You came for me! You – you're,... you're... Oh wait, you're caged too." she slumped back down as the full realization of the predicament struck her.

"Yeah, this wasn't quite according to plan." Calvin agreed. "But, on the other hand, they brought me right to you. So that's part of the plan accomplished."

"Plan?" Susie asked warily. "You have a plan?"

"I _always_ have a plan!" he replied. "I sneak in, find you, break you out, then we sneak out."

"Really?" she countered, humorlessly. "And just _how_ far did you get before getting caught?"

"... After the sneak in phase." he admitted, sheepishly.

"Oh great." Susie slumped her head against her bars, sighing in dejection.

"HEY, At least I did _Something!_" Calvin retorted. "The maximals were all content to just let you rot here!"

"They _were?_" Susie looked around in surprise.

"Yeah." Calvin replied, grimly. "Overheard them talking about it as they were carting me away."

"So, that's it then." she said in a tone of defeat. "We're both gonna die here."

"Don't count us out, yet." Calvin countered.

Susie groaned. "And just what sort of means do we have of getting out of here?"

"My wits, a bit of luck,... and a lock pick." was the reply.

"Well, forgive me if that fails to boost confidence." she retorted, sourly. " – wait, lock pick?" As she turned around, there sounded a creak as the door to Calvin's cell swung open. Calvin held up a long piece of metal for her to see. Susie gaped at him with a look of total shock.

"Nicked this from Rattrap." he said to the question she was unable to speak.

Calvin then slowly climbed onto the top of his cage. There, with a good twenty foot drop beneath him, he made a daring leap to the side of Susie's cage. He made contact to the cage with a loud clatter. Susie gasped as she thought he was about to fall, but he managed to keep a hold and slowly climbed to the front and shoved the pick into the lock.

When Susie's cage was opened, Calvin once again climbed atop the cage and leaped to the side of the chamber where a small ledge jutted out from the wall. "Alright Susie, your turn!" he called.

Susie looked back at him in astonishment. "You, you want me to _jump?_"

"Sure, just do what I did!"

"I can't do this, Calvin!" she cried, starting to hyperventilate.

"It's all right, I'll catch you!"

"I, I don't know." she whimpered, clinging to the bars like a lifeline.

Calvin fixed her with a look – a look she had never seen on his face before. I t was a look of concern, worry and desperation all meshed together. But there was something else mingled in that expression; it was like honesty – as if by wearing that expression, he had become incapable of saying anything other than the truth.

And then he spoke, saying "Susie, I know I've hardly ever been at my best around you, but I really need you to trust me now. I'm right here, I won't let you fall. But we're not going to get out of here unless you jump... I'm right here."

So slowly, tentatively, Susie did as Calvin instructed. Forcing herself with all her willpower not to look down, she climbed up to the top of the cell.

At the top of the cage, she paused for a moment, steeling herself for what she had to do. Then, taking a deep breath, she cast herself toward the ledge with all her might.

Calvin wrapped him arms around Susie as she fell forward. Heaving and grunting, he hoisted her up onto the safety of the ledge. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked.

Susie didn't respond. She was still clinging to Calvin like a drowning person clings to a life saver with her eyes clamped shut.

"... You can let go, now." he said, tersely.

Susie warily opened her eyes to see that she was, in fact, safe. " – _Oh!_" she gasped when she realized the position they were in. She hastily got down onto the ledge. "Well, glad that's over."

"You're tellin' me." Calvin agreed. "Now let's get out of here before – "

"And where do you two think you're going?" a voice behind them demanded.

" – _something_ else _happens._" Calvin grumbled as they turned to face their threat.

Susie made a frightened gasp. Behind them, standing on one of those hovering platforms, was Blackarachnia.

"I don't know how you got out of your cages," the femmbot snarled. "but you'll be lucky to move at all once I finish with you!"

At that moment, Calvin made a throwing gesture. Susie couldn't see what it was, but when she looked back at the she-spider, she had a rectangular shaped object with a blinking green light attached to her chest.

Blacharachnia looked down at the object. She had just enough time to make a startled gasp when the demo charge exploded, sending her falling backward off of her hover platform.

Susie peered over the edge to see the femmbot had landed on a rocky outcropping; stopping just short of the lava. She turned to Calvin with an incredulous look. "Something else you borrowed from Rattrap?" she asked.

"Yeah." Calvin grumbled. "That's all I got, too. So, let's hope we don't run into any more surprises." he moved to leave the room, ushering Susie along. But she noticeably winced when she put pressure on her foot.

"What's wrong with your foot?" Calvin asked.

Susie groaned. "I kicked Megatron yesterday."

Calvin gaped at her. His expression looked unbelievable – and maybe a little impressed. "You _did?_" he practically laughed.

"Yes." she replied. "I'm afraid it might be slow going for us."

Calvin smiled. "Maybe; maybe not." Susie turned to see that he was looking keenly at the now pilotless hovercraft.

* * *

"You're sure you can fly this thing?" Susie's voice trembled as she tried to keep her balance on the platform.

"Sure, I watched Inferno as he brought me in." Calvin replied. "It's easy, you got your propulsion, steering, some sort of controls and this... doohicky. So, if we turn it like this – " The platform lurched violently sideways, slamming into the wall.

"Calvin!" Susie shrieked.

"Okay, that didn't work quite like I expected. Let's try this." The platform suddenly dropped; he just barely managed to bring it up again before hitting the lava.

It took a bit more experimentation and near misses, but Calvin did manage to get the hovercraft under some semblance of control. He then piloted the craft in a hurry out the doorway, blazing past Skorponok and another large robot in the process. Calvin flew the platform to the best of his abilities, and as fast as he dared, through the labyrinthine corridors of the predacon base. At length, they reached the central chamber of the ship, where he paused to get his bearings.

"Okay," he thought aloud. "If we came in _that_ way, then we should be able to get out there!"

"You sure?" Susie asked anxiously. "I could swear I was brought in from there."

"Well, _I_ came in that way! I'm positive!"

"Whichever way, it won't do you any good!" a screeching voice countered. With startled gasps, the two captives turned to see the robotic form of Terrorsaur hovering in the air behind them, leering at them viciously. "Now, you can come quietly, or – "

Calvin, in a moment of panic, clutched one of the platforms controls which sent the craft ramming straight into the predacon. They looked back, aghast, as the fumbled a bit through the air – with his head turned completely around.

Terrorsaur paused to get his bearings, realizing something wasn't quite right. When he discovered his head was backwards, he twisted it around, glaring at the children with a burning fury gleaming in his optics. He sounded a throaty screech, reminiscent of the beast he modeled himself after and brandished his gun. "You're gonna pay for that, _monkey_!" he screamed and started shooting at the children with reckless abandon.

Calvin immediately set the hovercraft off as fast as it would go; with Terrorsaur in hot pursuit, firing off round after round. Calvin flew the platform in erratic loops, bobbing and weaving and making sudden sharp turns. But no matter what he tried, the predacon stayed hot on their heels.

"Calvin, he's gaining!" Susie screamed.

"I know, I know!" Calvin cursed under his breath. "Man, I wish this thing would move faster." Just as he said it, the platform lurched underneath them and went off at a rapidly increasing speed. The force of movement pushed them backward; were it not for the platforms railing, they would have both gone flying.

"_What did you do?_" Susie demanded.

"_I dunno! Must've hit some sort of turbo boost, or something!_" was Calvin's reply.

The platform continued to rush through the ship at breakneck speed. Calvin did his best to steer it, but it was moving much too fast. He could see, with no small amount of despair, that their pilfered vehicle was careening toward the wall with no way to stop it. "_Jump!_" he shouted at the last minute. Susie and he dove off the platform onto a suspended walkway without a second to spare. The sound of metal crashing into metal exploded behind them. Pieces of metal and shrapnel rained down on them – along with a gun that Calvin recognized as belonging to Tarantulas.

Surprised, Calvin looked back to see the twisted and mangled body of the spider-bot littered among the remains of the broken hovercraft.

"Alright!" Calvin crowed, grabbing the gun with its barbed projectile. "Calvin Mitchell's packin' heat!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Susie asked, eying the harpoon warily. "It looks pretty dangerous."

"Would you rather we go through the rest of the ship totally defenseless?" Calvin countered.

Susie sighed, but followed after him as quickly as her injured foot would allow.

* * *

As it turned out, Calvin's intuition to take the gun was spot on. The two fugitives had only gone a number of steps when they found themselves confronted by Scorponok.

The predacon second in command raised his claw revealing a pair of missiles set to launch. "Ah-ah-ah." he chided, shaking his head in a chastising manner. "Megatron was most displeased when you two flew the coop." he continued, conversationally. "He sent the order to recapture you as quickly as possible."

"Back off, Cyclopes!" Calvin brashly shouted, leveling the gun at the robot. "We're not goin' anywhere!"

Scorponok didn't so much as flinch. "You've never seen Megatron when he's angry." he said. "Trust me, it'll be better for all of us if you just come quietly."

Calvin thrust his weapon forward, to emphasize his point. Scorponok's stance remained unchanged. Susie cast anxious glances between human and robot, while trying to quell her rapid heartbeat.

"Just back away," Calvin reiterated. "or there'll be some serious carnage."

Scorponok glanced at the weapon in Calvin's hands, as if he had just noticed it. "Big deal." he shrugged. "So you managed to get your hands on Tarantulas' gun; doesn't mean you know how to use it."

Calvin than fired the gun – or at least, he tried to. He took a quick glance at the weapon to see that it wasn't built like human guns. Then it dawned on him – Tarantulas' hands in no way resembled human hands; so it stood to reason that his weapons would be tailored to fit his clutch.

Scorponok made a smug little scoff at Calvin's predicament. "Thought so. Now come here!"

As the predacon strode toward the children to apprehend them, Calvin made a last ditch effort to make some use of his weapon – that is to say, he threw it at Scorponok. And by some stroke of fortune, the blow struck true. The barbed projectile hit Scorponok square in the neck; the serrated edge combined with the force the force behind the throw took the predacon's head clean off.

"_Woo!_" Calvin hooped, jubilantly. "Did you _see_ that?"

Susie did see it – and she couldn't believe it. She fixed Calvin with a look of shock and bewilderment. "How did you _do_ that?" she asked, pointedly.

Calvin stopped in his celebration to throw a confused glance at Susie. Then it hit him that what he had just done would almost assuredly be classified as impossible. "Well,... I uh... _duck!_"

Susie wasn't sure what he meant; until she realized that Scorponok's body was still lurching toward them – albeit ridged and more zombie like. The children quickly skittered out of the way of the headless robot, which kept going in a straight course.

"Hey, Come back! The humans are _this_ way!" Called a voice from behind. Calvin and Susie turned to see Scorponok's head calling out after his body.

No sooner had the head called out it's instructions than the body strode off the walkway and tumbled out of sight.

Scorponok's head heaved a heavy, dejected sigh.

Calvin heaved a sigh as well, one of relief. He retrieved Tarantulas' gun, then grabbed Susie's wrist saying "C'mon, let's book it!"

"Wait!" Susie called as he pulled her toward the corridor Scorponok had appeared from. She turned and ran to where the robot's head lay. Picking it up, she looked at it very seriously. "Tell us how to get out of here." she said.

"I'm not telling you anything!" the head responded, indignantly.

"_Susie, are you nuts?_" Calvin whispered behind her. "_We gotta go, come on!_"

"I'm sure you know how to get out." she persisted. "What's the harm? You can't possibly get into any more trouble than you are now."

"Oh, ho, ho, you wanna bet?" Scorponok's head countered. "Besides, I would _never_ betray Megatron like that!"

"Nor would I!" exclaimed a new voice from behind.

Calvin made a sharp intake of breath. Susie turned around and made the exact same motion. Standing before them was a hulking red monstrosity pointing a very big gun at them.

"_Oh my gosh._" Susie squealed. "_Who is_ this _big brute?_"

The predacon made an insane smile, showing a mouthful of huge, needle shaped teeth. "I am Inferno, sentry of the colony." he proclaimed proudly. "And _you_ have the honor of being captured for the _glory of the Royalty!_" At the mention of the Royalty, Inferno made a gesture like saluting with his armed hand; then turned it back on them, adding "Now _BUUUUUUURN_, fleshlings!"

In a split second, Susie (acting on instinct, it would be safe to assume) shoved Scorponok's severed neck into the muzzle of Inferno's gun, plugging it with a sound like _phoong_. The two fugitives then made a mad dash down the corridor.

Inferno watched as they ran off. He looked down at the end of his weapon to see the second in command's protruding out of it. Then he laughed. He laughed a deranged, mad cackle that only those not in full possession of the facilities are capable of making. He laughed long and full. And as he laughed, he pulled the trigger, causing his weapon to explode in a giant ball of flame.

* * *

Calvin and Susie both heard and felt the effects of the explosion even as far down the passage as they were. They made their way through the tunnels, taking whatever turns popped up in hopes of losing any pursuers.

"What made you think asking the enemy for directions would be a good idea?" Calvin half shouted at Susie.

"We don't know how to get out, and it never hurts to ask!" she answered, sharply.

"_Ya never know!_" he countered. "Although, plugging Inferno's flamethrower with Scorponok's head – that was pretty slick!" he added as an afterthought.

"Thanks." she gave him a halfhearted smile. "I really don't know how I thought of it – just sort of came to me."

They ran a little longer before stopping to catch their breath. As Calvin rested, he cast his eyes about; as he looked around he found something that made him smile. "Susie, look!" he said, pointing down.

Susie looked where Calvin had directed, and saw what had him so excited. "A vent!" she cried.

"Yeah, might just be our ticket outta here." Calvin said, absently. He rubbed his hands together, then seized the grating and pulled with all his might.

It didn't budge.

Susie slumped against the wall. "Well, so much for that." she sighed.

Don't count us out, yet." Calvin replied as he picked up Tarantulas' gun. He swung the weapon down, hitting the barbed harpoon hard against the grate.

"You really think that'll work?" Susie asked.

"It might." he replied. "You keep watch, I'll keep hammering."

So Susie turned to keep a lookout, straining her eyes into the darkness of the corridor for any sign of hostile movement. For the longest time, her only companion was the constant _clang_, _clang_, _clanging_ as Calvin repeatedly hit the grate.

Then, after what seemed like hours, Calvin made a short, triumphant laugh. Susie turned to see what had him so excited. She peered at the base of the vent where Calvin was looking with great interest. As she looked closer, she noticed a tiny, miniscule crack in the grating.

She looked aghast at him. "You actually did it?"

"You bet I did!" his response was exuberant as he continued whacking. "We're on our way, Susie! It's only a matter of – _hoit!_"

Something latched onto the children from behind and hoisted them into the air. From behind and above them, a buzzing voice proclaimed. "Ooooh, Wazzpinator apprehend fleshy-bots!" The metallic goon then traipsed back the way the children had come from, almost humming as he went along. "Megatron reward Wazzpinator for this." he continued. "Maybe promote Wazzpinator to executive type position! Then, maybe Wazzpinator not get blown up so much!"

Calvin was sick to his stomach. How could this have happened? Had he gotten so far, come _so_ close, only to fail? Only to get himself – and Susie – killed? Miserably, he turned his head as far as he could to look at Susie. He could tell she was putting on a brave face, that she was trying very hard not to cry. But he could see that she was trembling. There was no denying that she was absolutely terrified.

"Susie," he called to her, his voice a hoarse whisper. She looked at him and the expression of abject horror on her face tore him up even more. "I,... I'm sorry."

She graced him with a defeated smile, letting tears drip from her eyes. "It's okay." she answered, just as softly as he. "You tried your best."

He let tears of his own fall, then. Numbly, he reached out his hand toward her. She, in turn, reached out her own hand and clutched onto his like a lifeline. And that is how they remained as Waspinator marched them toward the main chamber of the Dark Side, to face the predacon tyrant's wrath.

* * *

**A/N:** So yeah, got a new compy and everything's good! I had originally meant for this chapter and what will be the next chapter to be one chapter – but I decided that this story really needed an update.

And speaking of updates, once again our story is winding to a close – only two more chapters remain, in fact.

And that brings me to a very crucial point. You see, with this story coming to a close, I must begin consideration for my next project, as it were. Now, I have a great many stories running about in my head all at once – more than I know what to do with, even. And I don't really know which of them to pursue.

So I ask you, my dear readers, which of the following ideas do you think sound best? (Titles are subject to change)

**A Grand Aulde Adventure**

_Calvin and Hobbes_ fusion with _the Sims Medieval_

Minstrel Calvin arrives at the kingdom of Mezzogoth. There he meets court wizard Susan and gets swept off in a mystery involving deception, secrets and murder.

**A Legendary Journey**

_Calvin and Hobbes_ crossover with _Greek Mythology_

Calvin and Hobbes are time traveling again. This time, they wind up in ancient Greece where they tag along with Heracles as he performs his labors.

**Shot Through the Heart**

_Calvin and Hobbes_

Susie has fallen truly, madly, deeply in love – with Moe? How did this happen? And what does Calvin intend to do about it?

**Calvaddin**

_Calvin and Hobbes_

A retelling of the classic story of Aladdin, reinacted by the cast of Calvin and Hobbes.

**Elemental Flux**

_Calvin and Hobbes_ crossover with _Avatar, the Last Airbender_

Calvin, Hobbes and Susie wake up in a strange world. A world populated by bizarre creatures and people with strange powers. A world devastated by war. They'll have to master the elements and fight for their lives if they want to get back home.

**Adventures in Blunderland**

_Calvin and Hobbes_

When Susie falls through a magic mirror, Calvin and Hobbes must go on a daring quest through the weird and wild of wonderland to save her.

**Deep Trouble**

_Calvin and Hobbes_

While vacationing at a beach resort, Susie meets a charming young man who begins to woo her – much to Calvin's annoyance. Unknown to either of them, this hansom stranger is a merman – as well as a prince. And he quickly whisks Susie away to his kingdom to make her his bride. But will Calvin stand for this? You better believe not!

**The Drums of War**

_Calvin and Hobbes_ crossover with _Warcraft_

Calvin and co. stumble into a rift between dimensions, which lands them in the world of Azeroth. They'll have to make new friends and learn new skills in this world. Cause this time there's no going back – there is only survival.

**To Do the Impossible**

_Calvin and Hobbes_ crossover with _Kim Possible_

Hobbes disappears under mysterious circumstances. And Calvin, in an act of desperation, hires Team Possible to help find him. But is this merely a case of a missing friend, or a threat that could unravel the very fabric of reality.

**A Smashing Sitch**

_Kim Possible_ crossover with _Super Smash Brothers_

Kim, Ron and Shego have been selected to participate in the next Smash Tournament. New friends, new rivals and old grudges will emerge as they fight their way to the top.


	10. The Cavalry Arrives

_Okay peeps, let's keep those requests for the next story coming! And don't be afraid to suggest more than one, either. _

_If you've somehow forgotten what the selections are, simply hit the previous button and refresh your memory. _

_In the mean time, enjoy this next chapter!_

* * *

Calvin and Susie landed with audible gasps as Waspinator deposited them, none-too-gently, on on a platform in the core of the ship. The two children scrambled to their feet and looked about.

The predacons had all assembled around and were glaring at them with the most vicious grimaces imaginable. Calvin was astounded – all the preds seemed to be functioning perfectly normally, despite the severe damage they had taken. Even Tarantulas, though nearly in pieces and shambling, was still active.

Now Calvin understood Dinobots's warning; these robots had all taken a colossal beating, but were still functioning. The two of them, on the other hand, could be terminated in less than a fraction of that kind of damage. This revelation did nothing to ease his nerves.

The sound of heavy footfalls behind him broke Calvin out of his contemplation. He and Susie quickly turned around to face the newcomer. The first thing he saw were a pair of large, three toed feet covered in purple scales. As his gaze traveled upward, Calvin saw a pair of circular structures mounted with guns connected to the thighs followed by a massive upper body similar in structure to body builder adorned with black plating. The robot's left hand clutched a weapon similar in shape to a crab's claw while the right hand was formed from his beast mode's head; a beast Calvin know quite well, tyrannosaurus rex. Finally, Calvin looked up into the robot's face. The fiend gazed back with an expression that radiated malice and contempt. Spiteful, merciless optics sneered down at him while the mouth twisted into a grimace, showing rows of square shaped teeth.

"And so children, we meet at long last." the robot said. His voice was deep and smooth, but there was an overt tone of danger in it. Calvin knew that crossing the line even once with him would be a deadly mistake.

"You – You're Megatron?" Calvin stammered.

"Indeed, I am!" Megatron growled. "And the two of you have caused me a fair bit of trouble as of late." he gestured his tyrannosaur head between the two children.

Calvin cast a quick glance at Susie – she looked simply aghast; her eyes were wider than Calvin had ever seen them, her face had turned white as a ghost and her entire frame was trembling like a leaf in the wind. Calvin could tell that she wanted nothing more than to scream, to cry and whimper, but was putting on a brave face. He knew from experience that Susie was a tough nut; what most girls would shriek and go into hysterics over, Susie would take with little more than an irritated grumble. To see her in this state was a testament to just how dire their situation was.

He turned back to the towering predacon leader. "And,... what d'you want from us?" he asked feebly.

"Information." Megatron stated. He then leaned in toward Calvin with a no-nonsense glare, adding "And it would be in your best interest to cooperate."

" – _Got it._" Calvin squeaked, giving a shaky thumbs up.

"Now then – " Megatron's voice shifted into calmer tone while his mouth formed a pleased smile. "Where are the others?"

Calvin was taken aback by this totally unexpected question; he wasn't at all sure what Megatron meant by it. He glanced at Susie, who looked just as confused as he did. Turning back to the predacon leader, he said "I assume you're talking about the maximals; they're undoubtedly back at their own base – probably glad to be rid us."

"I am _not_ talking about the maximals." Megatron interrupted. "I _mean_, where are the other _humans?_"

The children were once again befuddled by the predacon's inquiry. "Er,... there _aren't_ any others." Calvin stated; Susie nodded in agreement.

Megatron's countenance once again became a mask of fury. He loomed over the terrified children, grimacing acidly. "Do _not_ trifle with me!" he admonished.

"We're not! It really _is_ just the two of us!" Susie managed to find her voice again.

"I swear it, honest!" Calvin added, putting his hand up in a manner of one at oath.

Megatron growled, glowering between the two. All around, the predacons murmured between each other at this information.

"Supposing I were to believe what you say, it begs the question of how you came to be here."

"Well that's easy. We came in my time machine." Calvin answered.

The robot grinned. "Ah, so you claim that there are no other humans around, yet you admit that you came here in a time machine."

"... Uh,... yeah." Calvin said, blankly.

"Two children could not operate a time machine by themselves; no. It would require the operation of someone with more knowledge and experience than either of you possess. Now, I tire of your insolence! Answer me straight!"

"Really! There's not a whole lot else I can say!" Calvin defended. "It's my time machine! I Built it and I piloted it! There was no one else inv – _aaac!_"

In a split second, Megatron clamped his saurian jaws around Calvin's middle and hoisted him up to his enraged face. In the background, Susie shrieked, calling his name in panic. "_Do you take me for a fool?_" the predacon leader demanded. "Do you expect me to believe a _child_ is capable of not only constructing but controlling a device so intricate and complex that took Cybertron centuries to develop?"

Calvin gagged in his grasp. "I'm not an ordinary kid!" he gasped. "I'm a genius! My mental capacities are superior to other people! I've done things most people couldn't even _dream_ about!"

Megatron let out a seething growl. "I've had enough of your lies!"

Calvin felt the pressure around his body increase drastically; he winced as Megatron's teeth pressed into his skin. Tears spilled out of his eyes as he looked into the predacon's merciless face. Megatron's expression was an unnervingly calm anger as incrementally applied pressure to his helpless victim; squeezing the life out of him.

"Actually Megatron, there may be some truth to what he says." the oozing voice of Tarantulas intervened.

Calvin let out a relieved breath as the pressure on him subsided.

Megatron glared at the arachnoid scientist. "Explain!" he demended.

"Yesterday, during my skirmish with Tigatron, the boy was there. He was sitting in what appeared to be a cardboard box – and it was flying."

Calvin saw Megatron's brow raise slightly – apparently, this had gleaned his interest. Behind them, the other predacons made noises interest as well.

"Yeah, he did something to the hover platform, too!" Terrorsaur added.

"What do you mean?" Blackarachnia asked.

"I was chasing after them while they were riding on one of the platforms." he explained. "They were going at top speed; but then the platform shot off like a rocket – going way faster than it should've been able to!"

Calvin was surprised by that. He figured the platform's sudden speed boost was simply part of the device – he couldn't have done that! Could he?

Megatron was equally intrigued by this. "And _how_ did you manage this?" he asked.

Calvin gulped. "... I honestly have no idea how that happened!" he protested. "Seriously, I was just as surprised as he was!"

Megatron pulled Calvin in closer, intently studying his face, looking for any sign of deception. "Very well." he said contemplatively after about a minute of reading him. He opened his beast mouth, dropping Calvin to the floor with a thud.

"Calvin!" Susie yelped. Calvin looked over his shoulder to her. It appeared that Waspinator had been restraining her – she had probably tried to make a move when Megatron grabbed him. Now that he had been released, she broke free of his grasp (or he had let go) and dashed to his side. "Are you hurt?" she asked in a hoarse whisper, her eyes red with worry.

"I'll live." he grunted, clutching his side.

Susie tenderly helped Calvin to his feet. The two of them looked around: Megatron seemed to be in a state of contemplation, pondering over what he had gleaned. The other predacons seemed to be in a similar state, talking amongst themselves and keenly eying the children with great interest.

Minutes passed by like this. Neither Megatron or his followers spoke to the humans. For a moment, Calvin wondered if an escape attempt might be possible, but the robots were too clustered together, blocking any exit they might have.

At length a pounding of heavy footsteps sounded, signaling that Megatron had approached them again."Now then, boy," he said as diplomatically as he could. "Let us discuss a... proposition."

"Proposition?" Calvin repeated, looking up at his menacing form. "Wha – what sort of... proposition?"

"You proclaim yourself to be a genius;" Megatron replied. "Whether or not that is true has yet to be determined – however, you managed to sneak into my base; without setting off alarms, I might add, you liberated yourself from my holding cells, bested my troops and came within an inch of escaping. So clearly, there is _some_thing about you – something... _peculiar_. And whatever that is could prove to be a valuable asset, _yeeeessss._"

_Asset?_ Calvin swallowed hard.

"Now here is my proposal; you shall remain here, kept safe and provided for – and in return, you shall follow whatever order you are given. Understood?"

Calvin looked at him slack-jawed for a moment "I... and... if I refuse?"

"Ah yes, I had a feeling you might ask that." Megatron replied, almost sadly. "But I am afraid that either way, I cannot let you leave." as he spoke, he pointed his dinosaur head at Calvin. Its mouth opened and a bright purple light emitted from the back of the throat.

Calvin was pretty sure he knew what would happen if that light hit him – and he wasn't too keen on finding out if he was right. "_Okaaay,_" he put his hands up in a placating manner. Megatron thankfully lowered his weapon. "Uh,... su, suppose I agreed to this... What would happen to Susie?"

"The girl will not be harmed." the predacon answered. "You will both be kept safe and sound – now, what do you say?"

Calvin pondered that for a second. He started to respond, when he was interrupted by Susie grabbing his shoulder. "_You're not actually going to_ agree _to this, are you?_" she asked, urgently.

"_I have to!_" he snapped back. "_In case you haven't noticed, we're out of options!_"

"_You would really agree to something so clearly evil?_"

"_If I don't, we're both DEAD!_"

"_Calvin,_" Susie turned him around to face her. She looked at him with the most earnest expression he had ever seen her wear. "_I would rather die than be used like this. Surly you can see just how truly wrong this is._"

Yes, Calvin could see it, but that didn't change the situation. He had no doubt that Megatron wouldn't hesitate to kill them both if things didn't go his way.

Still,... though she had been whispering, Calvin could hear the determination in her voice – she had truly meant what she said; and he couldn't help be feel a twinge of admiration for her.

"Enough discussion!" Megatron barked, causing the children to jump. "Give me your answer, now!"

Calvin looked balefully at the predacon leader. And in a fateful moment, he knew what he had to do. "Megatron," he said, resolutely. "I – "

The Darkside trembled and shuddered as loud explosions of noise resounded from outside.

"What was that?" Susie gasped, when the shaking subsided.

Blackarachnia moved to a panel set with several screens embedded in it. After a moment watching the screens, she cursed. "The maximals are attacking!" she reported.

"How many?" Megatron demanded.

The fembot turned back to the screens. "All of them." she replied. "It's a full scale assault!"

Megatron looked at his troops who were all looking back at him expectantly. "Well, what are you all standing around for?" he growled. At once there was a stampede of metal as the predacons turned and raced onward to meet their adversaries.

Waspinator buzzed down behind the children. "Er, Wazzpinator volunteer to guard fleshy-bots." he said to Megatron.

"_Just make sure nothing happens to them!_" Megatron leered, clearly annoyed but not wanting to wast time arguing. He turned and followed the other preds to join the fight with the maximals, leaving the two time travelers with their lone jailer.

Waspinator brandished his gun, pointing it at the children. "Back to cells." he stated, simply. The children wordlessly complied, walking back with their hands in the air down the path toward the holding chamber. Behind them, the cacophony of battle continued to sound from outside.

Susie leaned in toward Calvin "_Can you believe the maximals are here?_" she whispered to him.

"_Yeah, great._" he replied, glumly.

She looked at him in surprise. "_I get the feeling you're not too happy about this._"

"_Oh come on, Susie, you don't really think their here for_ us_, do you?_"

"_Well, why_ else_ would they come?_"

"_Oh I dunno, maybe because they're at_ war_, and these are their_ enemies_!_"

Susie was flabbergasted. "_But,... the maximals, they aren't_ like _that! They wouldn't take the fight to the preds for_ no reason_!_"

"_Yeah, well they wouldn't –_ "

"Fleshy-bots _shut up!_" snapped Waspinator, smacking Calvin in the back of the head. "Wazzpinator in charge, Wazzpinator say – _hmm..._" there was a soft _click_ as something attached itself to the robot's back. Waspinator reached behind himself, feeling around until he finally reached the object. He pulled it around to find a squarish object with a blinking green light. "_ – no._" he moaned.

Calvin and Susie ducked out of the way mere seconds before the demo-charge exploded hurling the bug-bot across the corridor. They tentatively looked up, and in the hallway behind the crumpled Waspinator saw

"Rattrap!" Susie exclaimed, never in her life believing she would be so happy to see a rat.

"C'mon kids, we gotta book it!" the maximal beckoned to the time travelers.

The two of them hurried over to where Rattrap waited. As they scurried past Waspinator's limp form, Susie thought she could hear the fallen robot morosely whine "_Wazzpinator not know why he even bother._"

"You actually came for us!" Susie cried as the three of them made their way down the hall.

"'Course we came!" was Rattrap's curt reply. "You really think Optimus was gonna let ol' Megs have his way with ya?"

"And there's... no hard feeling." Calvin timidly added. "... No one's upset about – "

"Oh, I'm plenty mad, kid!" Rattrap countered. "As soon as we're outta danger, Imma give ya a rant that'll make your head spin! But this ain't the time, so keep moving!"

Rattrap led them back through the corridor and through small nooks and passage ways in the ship's underbelly; finally bringing them to a small grate which brought them outside.

As they emerged into the open air, they were met with the concussive reverberation of weapon fire. Before them, the maximals and predacons were arrayed in battle formations.

Cheetor and Tigatron had taken cover behind a rock, emerging to fire on their opponents before ducking back to safety. Rhinox laid a repressive fire with a pair of wicked looking chain guns. Even Dinobot, to the children's surprise, was there in the midst of the fray, attacking preds left and right with a sword and some sort of spinning blade-like weapon. Above the battlefield, Airrazor was lock in combat against Terrorsaur.

Rattrap shepherded the children across the battlefield, occasionally firing his gun at approaching predacons. "OPTIMUS!" he called as they reached their allies. "Optimus, we got 'em! Let's _amscray!_"

The maximal leader's appearance startled the children; the normally benign robot now supported a pair of cannons on his shoulders with another pair sprouting out of each wrist which he fired repeatedly, landing one shot after another on his hapless adversaries. Optimus shot another round out of his cannons before turning to look at the two refugees. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"We're okay." Susie replied, breathing heavily. Calvin nodded, wordlessly.

A screech was heard above them; they looked up to see Terrorsaur dive-bombing toward them – till a well placed shot from Airrazor stopped him short. The dazed predacon was then blasted into the side of the ship by a pair of green lasers. Calvin and Susie turned to see Dinobot grimacing in the fallen pred's direction; his normally red optics glowing green.

"Alright!" Optimus called over the thunder of battle. "Everyone back to base! Airrazor, you take Susie! Calvin, you're with me!"

The fembot clutched Susie tightly in her arms and flew off with her. The other maximals turned and ran back toward their base, transforming as they went. Calvin turned to Optimus who held out his hand for him. He quickly complied and found himself cinched tight between the robot's arm and chest.

"Prime Jets, _on!_" Optimus called. In an instant, there was a roar of engines and Calvin felt the sensation of lifting off the ground. He was soon soaring through the wind, high above the terrain as the maximal leader carried him back to safety.

"Oh _man!_" he cried as the wind ripped through his hair. "Now _that _was a harrowing experience – glad you guys showed up when you did!"

"Don't think you're out of the woods just yet." Optimus' voice broke in above him. "When we get back to base, you and I are going to have a long talk."

Calvin groaned. "Do we really _need_ to? I get enough lectures from my dad, I don't need to hear 'em from you too."

"Well you're going to get one anyway." Optimus countered. "Do you have any idea just how lucky the two of you are to be _alive?_ What you did was brash, thoughtless and foolhardy!"

"Somebody had to do _something!_" Calvin shouted, his past anger bubbling to the surface again. "Since you were all willing to leave her with the preds – "

"We were _not_ going to leave her, Calvin. We had a plan."

"Don't try to pull this on me, I heard what Dinobot said!" Calvin shouted in near hysteria. Optimus positioned him where he could look clearly at him and fixed him with a glare sterner than anything his dad could've mustered.

"Let's get one thing straight." he growled. "Dinobot is not in charge, here. _I_ am! And I would never leave Susie or you or anyone in the hands of those who would harm them!"

Calvin, all the steam billowed out of him, simply looked at Optimus in awe. Now feeling foolish, and a little ashamed, he turned his gaze ahead, focusing on the dark form of Airrazor, and dolefully pondered on what had just happened.

His pondering was cut short, however. Something whizzed past them and struck Airrazor with a loud _bang_, causing the fambot, along with Susie, to drop out of the sky. A brief moment of panic struck Calvin before another explosion sounded, sending him and Optimus spiraling down to earth as well.

The boy and robot screamed as the landscape spun and whirled beneath them, growing closer by the second. At the last moment, Optimus twisted his body so that his back struck the ground. He held Calvin close, protecting him from the larger debris that flew by as they skidded across the ground.

Calvin wasn't sure how long they remained there. But once he realized they stopped moving, he bolted out of Optimus' clutch and ran as fast as he could, looking all around for his fallen companion. He found Airrazor first; the fambot lay on the ground, her optics blank and empty with a gruesome black scorch mark all across her back and a gaping hole in its center.

Not far off lay Susie. Once Calvin saw her motionless form, he dashed to her with renewed vigor. The girl had fared no better than Airrazor; her face and arms were ripped up and bruised and there was a horrible gash on her head that was dripping an alarming amount of blood out. Without hesitating, he pulled his shirt off and wadded it onto the wound in an effort to staunch the bleeding. Then, hoping – _praying_ that he wasn't too late, he pressed his fingers into the side of her neck; he breathed a small sigh of relief when he found her pulse – it was faint and small, but she was alive! Thank whatever deity or supernatural force was out there, she was alive.

"How is she?" came Optimus' voice from behind. Calvin turned to see a gorilla – what must have been the maximal leader's beast form – looking at them with a sympathetic expression.

"Not good." Calvin answered. "She's alive, but she's hurt real bad. Can,... can you help her?"

Optimus turned his gaze to the injured girl and his expression fell. "I don't know... None of us have any experience treating organic lifeforms."

Fresh tears welled up in Calvin's eyes as his hopes plummeted.

Optimus sighed heavily. It truly pained him that these children should be put through such ordeals. "I'll do what I can." he said at last. If we can just get her to – "

At that instant, a weapon fired. Optimus was hit square in the back and sent flying into the face of a cliff with a sickening crunch. Calvin looked to where the weapon had fired from. "_YOU!_" he shouted hatefully when he saw the figure of Megatron standing before him triumphantly. "_You did this!_"

"Indeed." Megatron's response was condescending and remorseless. "Lamentable, yes, but had you done as I instructed, you wouldn't be in this predicament.

"And now, I make my offer one last time; join with us, or perish where you stand. What do you say?"

Calvin couldn't believe Megatron's audacity; to think that after all he had done to them, all the pain they had endured, the absolute _hell_ they had gone through because of him, that he would just come whimpering over to him when he beckoned?

Holding Susie's prone form close, his resolve was galvanized. "I say _slag off!_" he grabbed a nearby rock and heaved it at the robot with all his might. The missile struck it's target, hitting Megatron directly in the face.

Megatron growled dangerously as the rock fell back to the ground. "Very well, then." he said in a terrifyingly calm tone. He raised his dinosaur hand, opening the jaws at Calvin. Once again, purple light emitted from the back of the throat, aiming directly at the helpless children.

Calvin knew their time was up. Any second, that laser would fire and they'd be finished. Still, there was a strange comfort he felt, that ultimately, he had made the right choice. With a final, bitter laugh, he clutched Susie as tight as he could and cinched his eyes shut, anticipating the final blow.

There was a bright flash and a loud noise.

So this was death, then? Well, it didn't really seem all that bad, actually; once you got past the initial shock. And at least it hadn't hurt, he had thought there might be a burning or concussive sensation or something. But no, all he felt was Susie's haggard breathing on his neck. Wait a minute; if Susie was dead, how could she be breathing? For that matter, if he was dead, how could he feel anything?

Tentatively, he let his eyes slip open. And what he saw gave him a shock. There was Megatron, spread eagle, face down in the dirt. And before him spread a dark swath of – were those... _tire_ marks?

He carefully lay Susie down and followed the path of the treads. What he found surprised him even more – there just ahead of him stood his father's car. The figure that emerged from the car however, wasn't his father, but a bearded old man in a robe of some sort.

"Well, that was invigorating!" the man proclaimed as he stepped out of the vehicle.

"That's _one_ way of putting it!" another voice countered, one Calvin knew very well. "_Sheesh_, I thought _Calvin's_ driving would be a nightmare!" the voice continued as out of the passenger seat stumbled

"_HOBBES!_" Calvin shouted excitedly at the sight of his best friend.

The tiger turned to the sound of his voice; his face broke into an enormous grin when he saw him. "_Calvin!_" He charged forward, plowing into the boy with all his might, clutching him into a tight embrace. And for once, Calvin didn't mind his exuberance.

"We found you!" Hobbes cheered. "You're alive! You're safe! You're – … not wearing a shirt."

"Huh?" Calvin looked dawn at himself. "Oh yeah! I took my shirt off because – " he gasped loudly. "_SUSIE!_" he rushed back to where he had set her down and took her up again.

"_OH MY – _" Hobbes was appalled when he saw the state she was in. "_What happened?_"

"She fell." Calvin sniffed. "We were flying back to safety and she fell – she hit her head."

"Oh dear." Calvin looked up to see the old man had joined them. He ran his fingers through his beard as he looked at Susie's limp form in concern. He bent over, puling a dark stick from somewhere in his robe. "If I may." he said, placating to Calvin.

"Can,... can you help her?" he asked, eying the stick warily.

"I believe I can." the man replied, softly. "At least, I can keep her from dying."

Calvin nodded and held Susie out to him. The man positioned his stick close to Susie's head and murmured something Calvin didn't catch. When the words were spoken, Calvin felt something he couldn't quite describe – a sort of energy pulsing around the area about the stick. When the man had finished, he removed Calvin's shirt from Susie's head. Calvin was relieved to see that the gash on her face had closed.

"There now." the man sighed. "That should take care of the worst of it. Though really, a potion is what she needs; still, at least she – "

They all fell silent as a dark shadow spread over them. With no small amount of trepidation, they turned all at once to see Megatron had risen and was glaring at them irately – paying particular attention to the two newcomers. "What is this?" the predacon rumbled. "More of your trickery, _boy?_" he glared at Calvin.

"Oh no," Hobbes gasped, taking in the robot's gruesome appearance. "I had a nightmare about this once – _Terminator meets Barney the Dinosaur!_"

"My word." the old man breathed, startled by the predacon leader as well. He rose to his feet and, as diplomatically as he could, said. "Greetings, good sir... er, allow me to introduce myself. I am – " he jumped aside, narrowly avoiding a blast from Megatron's laser.

"I don't care _who_ you are, human!" Megatron sneered coldly. "Prepare to die."

"Well then..." the stranger replied with a steely calm tone.

In a quick, fluid motion, the old man thrust his hand with his stick forward. With a surprised cry, Megatron was lifted off of his feet, hurling through the air. He rolled and turned as he quickly fell back to earth, slamming into the ground with a thunderous crunch.

Calvin and Hobbes both looked on with stunned expressions. "Wow." was all that could be said.

The old man strode over to the fallen robot, his stick held at the ready. He peered at Megatron as the robot struggled to stand. "Fascinating." the man mused. "It appears to be some manner of contraption."

Megatron growled at the man as he got back on his feet. "Disgusting, wretched organic f_ilth!_" he roared. "You will rue the day you crossed me!"

The man made another quick motion with his stick. Megatron's torso spun around, his arms took their positions as head and tail while paneling on his back closed up around him. Where once stood a severely irked robot, now stood a severely irked tyrannosaurus.

"_What is this?_" Megatron shouted in surprise, looking about to see himself in his beast mode. He snarled at the old man. "No matter. Megatron, _terrorize!_" there was a sound of moving metal, but the predacon did not transform. "_WHAT?_" he was astounded. "Megatron, _TERRORIZE!_" again, nothing happened. When it became clear that he could not transform at all, he glowered at the man with nothing short of burning hatred. Bereft of his robotic arsenal, he would have to deal with him the old fashioned way. He opened his jaws wide and brought them down on the meddlesome human. But the man, displaying surprising nimbleness for his age, sidestepped the attack and countered with a blast of energy from his wand striking the beast's massive head.

Meanwhile, Calvin leaned over to Hobbes. "So, who's the geezer?"

"That's Merlin."

"Oh."

"Who's the lizard?"

"The leader of an evil band of shape-shifting robots."

"Oh."

The two of them looked back to the battle to see Merlin had conjured a mass of ropes out of the tip of his wand that were wrapping themselves around Megatron, binding him tight. Unable to move, the predacon leader fell to the earth, squirming and writhing with all his might to break free.

Satisfied that his opponent wasn't going anywhere, Merlin turned back toward the boy and tiger. "I believe that's done it." he stated simply.

But with a tremendous roar, Megatron shattered his bonds and dove at Merlin with his mouth agape. Before Calvin or Hobbes could get a warning out, Optimus rushed in from the sidelines, driving his fist into Megatron's face and dropping the predacon to the floor once more. Optimus then seized Megatron by the tail and hoisted him off the ground. The maximal leader turned around and around, spinning Megatron much like a discus thrower. Once he had gained enough momentum, Optimus released Megatron sending him flying off into the distance til he was little more than a purple spec which finally disappeared from view.

"Who's this, now?" Hobbes asked Calvin with a hint of worry.

"Optimus Primal." Calvin replied, adding "Don't worry, he's the good guy."

As Optimus approached, Calvin rushed up to him. "Optimus, look." he said, gesturing to the Hobbes, Merlin and the car. "My friend recovered the time machine! We can go home, now!"

"That's good, Calvin." Optimus replied. "But what of Susie?"

"Oh, she's fine!" said Calvin. "The old guy healed her!"

"Well," Merlin interceded. "She is _stabilized_. She still needs proper treatment. Had I access to my facilities, I could do more for her."

Optimus nodded in grim understanding. "Then... you must go." he stated.

Calvin turned in surprise. "_What?_ But... Where's Rattrap? What about the plan?"

"I'm afraid Rattrap is too far away! Susie needs help _now!_ Just _go_, we'll find another way!"

Calvin looked around, trying to think of _some_thing he could do. "What, what about _Airrazor!_ We could take Airrazor with us!"

Optimus shook his head, sadly. "I'm afraid Airrazor is in dire need of repair – she wouldn't be much use to _anyone_ in her current state."

"C'mon, Calvin!" Hobbes shouted as he carefully placed Susie into the car. "Let's do what the monkey says!"

Calvin looked ruefully at Optimus. "You're... sure about this?"

"Yes, Calvin." the robot responded. "We'll be alright, just get Susie taken care of."

"Alright." Calvin turned to go, but then suddenly remembered something. "Wait, Optimus, there's something you should know!" Optimus said nothing, so he proceeded. "This planet we're on,... it's Earth."

Optimus fixed him with a scrutinizing expression. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!" he replied. "My time machine isn't capable of interstellar travel, so there's no way it could've left the planet."

"I see..." Optimus mused, though he didn't sound surprised – more like Calvin had simply confirmed something he had already suspected. "Thank you for telling me."

Calvin nodded as he made his way to the car. "Oh, and Optimus," he called back. "thanks for coming for us!"

Optimus gave him a soft smile. "That is the maximal way." he replied. "We don't leave _anyone_ behind."

* * *

Calvin climbed into the back of the car, opposite of where Susie lay. He looked perplexedly at the modifications done to the vehicle. The old cardboard box was situated in the middle of the back seat; a mass of copper wires sprang out of it's side, all bound together to what looked like a diamond with a final wire running into the car's dashboard.

He whistled appreciatively. "Wow, hooking up the time machine to the car; gotta admit, that's real clever."

"Thank you, lad." Merlin said as he situated himself in the driver's seat.

As the car started rolling, Calvin realized something. "Hey, wait a minute, none of us have goggles or anything!"

"Yeah, turns out the windshield does the same job." Hobbes answered.

Calvin didn't have time to contemplate that, with a whoosh and a bang, they were thrust into the time stream. And it turned out Hobbes was right; he looked out and saw the twisting, swirling vortex of time without suffering any ill effects.

With a sudden idea, he peered over Merlin's shoulder to see the speedometer. It read eighty six miles per hour. "Huh," he mused. "missed it by that much."

In a matter of moments, the improvised time machine rumbled out of the vortex, riving through the outskirts of a dense forest. And before them stood the enormous walls of an impressive castle.

Calvin and Hobbes gawked up at the edifice in awe. "Camelot?" Hobbes asked Merlin.

"Indeed." the wizard replied, pulling the car to a stop. He climbed out of the vehicle and pointed to a flat space on the ground. "Now, if you could set the girl there, we can get her sorted out.

Calvin and Hobbes hastened to comply, placing her on the ground as carefully as possible.

Meanwhile, Merlin made another motion with his wand. After a minute or two of waiting, a small, wooden box flew into the wizard's outstretched hand. He opened the box and began rifling through it's contents – an assortment of small glass bottles containing various liquids and other items. "No,... no,... no,.." he muttered as he dismissed one bottle after another, apparently looking for something in particular. "Ah, this will do." he said at last.

The old man instructed Calvin to tilt Susie's head back and open her mouth. He then unstopped the bottle and poured about half of the contents into the girl's mouth. The wizard then closed her mouth and held her firmly. Susie immediately began convulsing, her body popping up in short bursts. Calvin and Hobbes both made moves to intercede, but Merlin held them at bay. "Fear not, this is a normal reaction." The boy and tiger were put out by this, but none the less complied, keeping an extra close watch on the girl. Soon Susie's spasms died down and she became still once more.

Merlin sighed when it was over. He handed the bottle to Calvin. "Here. You'd best take the rest of this." he said.

Calvin wasn't so sure, but wasn't in a mind to argue. He downed the remainder of the liquid in the vial. It actually wasn't bad – granted it wasn't _good_, but it wasn't bad. After he drank it, he started feeling warm all over; and gradually, the various aches and pains he felt all over started to dissipate. Before long, he was feeling just fine.

He looked back to Susie to see Merlin was waving his wand about, moving it over different parts of her body and murmuring incantations.

Eventually, he rose to his feet, dusting off his robe. "Alright. That should do it." he said. "Nothing for ti now, but to let her sleep it off."

"Thanks for all your help!" Hobbes said, clasping Merlin's hand firmly.

"Not at all, dear chap!" the wizard responded, eagerly. "Always happy to help! And this little escapade will certainly be a boon to my research."

"Yeah, thanks." Calvin reiterated. He looked down at Susie, smiling softly; it looked like she would be fine, after all. She looked so tranquil now, like she was simply taking a nap after a long day of research – not like she had just been through a life or death conflict. Looking at her now, it seemed to Calvin that she looked more at peace now than she had during this entire adventure. With that thought, came a new notion. "Hey Merlin," he called to the wizard. "gotta ask you something."

* * *

Susie moaned as she stirred from her slumber. She was dully aware of a throbbing in her head and a sense of dizziness. She moved her head about, trying to get a bearing on her surroundings; as the world swam back into focus, she found that she appeared to be on the couch in her living room – odd, how had she gotten there?

As she continued looking around, her gaze landed on a lone figure seated on the piano bench. "... Calvin?" she weakly called.

The boy looked up when she called his name. Seeing that she was awake, he smiled. "You're up!" he said, coming over to the couch. "How're you feeling?"

She groaned and winced in response. "My head hurts." she said, numbly.

"Yeah you, uh, took a bit of a fall." Calvin replied nervously. Tentatively, he added. "So, um... what all do you remember?"

She looked at him like she was perplexed by his question. Still, she answered. "I... remember we were supposed to do a paper together. We,... I went to your house and,... you were playing with that box and... and... after that, I've got nothing." she frowned.

Calvin sighed deeply. "Well,... we went to do some studying. Then on the way back, you tripped – hit your head pretty hard."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. I had to carry you all the way back here."

Susie closed her eyes, moaning softly. She opened her eyes again and looked pointedly at Calvin. "Where's my mom?" she asked.

"She went to get some aspirin." Calvin answered. "She asked me to stay with you in case you woke up while she was gone."

"Oh." Susie breathed. She looked up at Calvin and her expression melted into a soft smile. "Calvin?"

"Hmmm?" Calvin looked closely at her, placing his hand on the couch's armrest.

"Thanks." she said, placing her hand on top of his. "Thanks for everything."

Calvin put on a soft smile of his own. "Anytime." he replied.

Then, for a moment, the two of them sat together simply looking at each other. Neither said a word nor broke contact; neither felt the desire or thought of a reason why they should. They simply stayed and savored the moment.

In time, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs announced the return of Susie's mother. Calvin, seeing that Susie would be taken care of, said his goodbyes and turned to leave.

As he left the Derkin's residence, Hobbes padded up beside him. "So, she doesn't remember anything?" the tiger asked.

"Nothing." Calvin replied, relief evident in his voice.

Hobbes mused on that for a bit. "You really think you made the right choice," he asked. "having Merlin wipe her memories?"

"Well, it's a bit too late to be having second thoughts!" Calvin snapped back.

"I'm just saying, if she ever finds out what you did – "

"_If_ she finds out, she'll undoubtedly be infuriated." Calvin retorted. Taking a breath to calm down, he added. "But you didn't see what a wreck she was through the whole trip. And you have no idea the kinds of ordeals she had to go through – trust me, she's better off not remembering."

Hobbes had no response to that, so he remained quiet as they returned to their own house.

When They arrived, Calvin took the box out of the car. The way he handled it made Hobbes uneasy. "You're not actually going back, are you?" the tiger asked worriedly.

Calvin was silent a moment, then replied. "I _did_ promise Optimus I'd help them." Hobbes cringed at the implications of this. Calvin continued. "But,... finding them the first time was a fluke – I'm not sure I could find them again, even _if_ I tried.

"Besides, this thing's been acting so sporadically lately,... I think it's time the box was retired."

Hobbes looked agog at his best friend, his jaw fell slack. "You, you mean?..."

"Yes." Calvin handed the box over to Hobbes. "... I want you to dismantle it." he said.

Once he got over his shock, Hobbes took the accursed cardboard with a perverse grin. "_With pleasure!_" he said, darkly.

Calvin watched aghast as Hobbes ripped a side of the box clean off. "You could show a _little_ solemnity!" he snarled.

Hobbes had thrown the various pieces of cardboard on the ground and was stomping on them for good measure – he apparently hadn't heard Calvin.

Calvin rolled his eyes at his friends antics. _Oh well_, he thought. _Let him have his moment. In the mean __time, I might as well get started on –_ "Aw, _slag!_" he shouted.

"What? What is it?" Hobbes looked over at him.

"I left our notes on the Axalon!"

* * *

_Remember, send in those requests for the next story! _


	11. Friends to the End

Calvin finished his reading and the classroom broke into a smattering round of applause. And Calvin,with all the humility he could muster, bowed repeatedly with much extravagance and flamboyance. He turned his paper in to the teacher, who complemented him on his well written story and accepted the paper for final grading.

As Calvin returned to his seat, he reflected on the assignment. The class had been assigned to write a short story, given complete liberty as to what to write about. At first, Calvin had been frustrated by the project – not only because of the assignment itself, but also because of being able to write anything at all – at least when they were given a subject to write about, he had an idea to go with, so he grumbled about it on the bus ride home. Bust as he and Susie disembarked at the bus stop, a mouse dashed out of the grass and scurried across the sidewalk in front of them. That single incident reminded Calvin of Susie and his brief experience in the Beast Wars. And then it struck him – if _that_ wouldn't make for a good story, nothing would.

While he didn't use his or Susie's real names, he recorded the events as accurately as he could recall. In the end he was quite pleased with the result. (Along with the fact that Hobbes didn't have to write this one for him) And if the reactions of the class and teacher were anything to go by, he was almost guaranteed a good grade.

Soon enough, the bell rang, signaling the end of school. As Calvin trotted down the hallway, Susie cantered up beside him. "Hey Calvin," she said. "I really liked your story!"

He turned to look at her. "Oh,... uh, thanks." he replied.

"How'd you come up with it?" she asked.

Calvin rubbed the back of his head, nervously. "... I dunno, it just sort of... came to me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Sort of like how a Dread Gozaar is drawn to the putrid plague moss fens of Amnekost-Seven!"

"You're so weird." Susie sighed, shoving his shoulder, gently.

Calvin couldn't help but smile at the girl. Whether she realized it or not, her experience in their little escapade had changed her. Before, Susie would be driven away by the slightest hint of Calvin's weirdness; now she simply rolled her eyes and shrugged it off. It also appeared that she had overcome her fear of rats – though Calvin couldn't really confirm this; as far as she knew, Susie had never revealed this fear to him.

"It _is_ strange, though." Susie amended.

"What's that?" Calvin hummed, curiously.

Susie looked to be in deep thought for a moment before answering. "When you were telling the story, it almost seemed... well... _familiar_... like I knew what was going to happen next."

Calvin felt a slight moment of panic – had she recovered her memories?

She stood there puzzling for a moment more, then finally shook her head in frustration. "I really can't explain it – I just don't know _why_ it seemed so familiar."

Calvin breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, life's full of mysteries, isn't it?"

"_... I guess._" Susie breathed, softly.

Calvin was antsy, wanting to end this before it got out of hand. "Well,... I guess I'll see you next week, then!"

The comment snapped Susie back to reality. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'll... see ya!" she waved to him as he dashed away.

* * *

Calvin was feeling quite chipper as he walked into his house – he was doing well in school, Susie was getting along with him and Hobbes hadn't even tried to pounce on him when he came home. Yep, things were going swell.

As he came into the house, Calvin heard voices coming from the kitchen, talking anxiously. Curious, he rushed in and saw his mom seated at the table. "Mom? What's going on?" he asked. Then his gaze turned and he saw who else was in the room. "_Dad?_ What are you doing home?"

His parents turned to look at him. They cast cursory glances at each other, than back at him. Finally, his dad spoke up. "Oh Calvin, you're home... Come here, son. We've,... we've got some big news."

* * *

Calvin was morose. He sat on a swing in the park, the events that had transpired yesterday replaying in his head over and over. Why now? Why when things were going so well did this have to happen? He was so caught up in these miserable thoughts that he didn't notice someone calling to him.

"_Calvin!_" the voice called, urgently.

Calvin stiffly turned his head to see who was calling him. "Hey Susie." he said, lifelessly.

"Jeez, who died?" Susie quipped, noticing his dower expression. She took the swing next to him, waiting for a reply.

Calvin sat for a moment. He in no way wanted to discuss what was troubling him – as though this were a dream he could still wake up from and telling her would only make the situation real. Still, if not from him, she would only find out from someone else... might as well get it over with. "My dad was offered a new position." he said in a dull tone.

Susie looked at him perplexedly. "Well, that's good... isn't it?"

He turned to her with a profuse expression of sadness. "We're moving." he flatly stated, causing Susie's eyebrows to rise. " – to _England_."

Susie's mouth fell open at the announcement. Recovering quickly, she replied. "Oh,... well,... that's um..."

"_Yeah._" Calvin grunted, looking at the ground.

Susie shifted uncomfortably on her swing. "So uh,... how long... when is... er..."

"End of the month." Calvin croaked.

"Wow, that's... really soon."

An uncomfortable silence descended on the two then. Both had so much they wanted to say, and neither knew how to say it. Ultimately, they both ended up simply gazing out across the the park – savoring what little time together they had left.

* * *

Susie walked into her house with stiff, robotic movements. Her eyes downcast, she plodded across the living room, giving no heed to her mother as she called to her. She made her way incrementally up the stairs to her bedroom where she cast herself on her bed, hugging her pillow tight to her chest and letting her woes and tears seep out.

She remained there for a good long while; her body convulsing as she sobbed. In time, she felt a weight depress on the side of her bed while a light pressure rested on her shoulder. "Susie..." she heard her mother's voice above her. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Susie turned to see her mother's face lined with sympathy, looking at her daughter with an expression of concern and worry. Susie wrapped her arms around her mother and buried her face into her neck. She held her mother like a lifeline, crying and sobbing all the while. Somehow, amidst the wails tears, Susie was able to convey what had happened.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry that your little friend is moving away." she squeezed her daughter consolingly. "It's not the end of the world, you know."

"I know." Susie sniffled. "But why did this have to happen _now?_ I just got to be friends with him and now he's moving... It's so _unfair!_"

"Oh, it'll be alright." her mother said as she stroked her back. "You'll still be able to write each other, and make phone calls and – "

"But I'll never _see_ him again!" Susie moaned. "And he'll just end up making new friends and probably meet some snotty British girl with some prissy accent, and, and..."

Her mother pulled her back, looking at her in surprise. Her mouth then melted into a soft smile. "Is _that_ what this is about?" she said with a laugh.

"Wh,... what?" she squinted at the older woman. "What do you mean?"

"Susie, it's obvious you have a crush on this boy." she stated matter-of-factly. "And now that he's going away, you feel as if you're losing him."

"_I might as well be._" she morosely countered, not even trying to dispute her mother's claim. "Long distance relationships never work."

The woman embraced her daughter once again, trying to soothe the ache she felt. "Susie," she said, softly. "Let me tell you something."

* * *

Before long, the month had come to an end, and moving day was at hand. Calvin sullenly watched from his window as his parents moved about frantically – packing things into the car, getting ready for the trip to their new home.

He blew out an irate sigh, glaring spitefully at the vehicle; as if he could eradicate it with his scorn, thereby annulling the move.

Hobbes placed a consoling paw on his shoulder. Calvin looked at his best friend in all the world; though everything else would be left behind, Hobbes would be with him always. And that one constant in this turmoil of change would at least make the ordeal a little less terrible.

Behind them, the door opened. "Come on, Calvin." said the voice of his mother. "It's time to go."

"_I don't wanna go._" the child grumbled, bitterly.

"It's a bit too late for that." his mom replied. "C'mon, get your things out to the car!"

Begrudgingly, Calvin gathered up the last few of his possessions. Pausing for a moment to get one last, long look at his room, soaking up all the memories he had made there. Then, at length, he turned and slowly trudged down after his mother.

"Stupid move." he snarled under his breath. "Why couldn't dad get transferred to somewhere in the same state? In the same country, even! Why, of all places, did it have to be _England?_"

"Oh, cheer up, Calvin." his mom admonished. "Once we're there, I'm sure you'll grow to love it! You know, my grandfather was British – he came from a place called Little Hangleton."

"Yeah, and he _left_ Little Hangleton and came _here!_" Calvin countered. "Doesn't do a lot for your argument!"

His mom sighed heavily.

As Calvin got his things stashed away, he turned to see an unexpected figure behind him. "Susie?"

The girl gave a bleary smile. "Didn't think you could get away without saying goodbye, did you?"

Calvin replied with a mirthless chuckle. "Never." He closed the car door and strode over to Susie.

Susie took a long look at the packed vehicle. "So,... this is it, then?"

"... Yeah."

She rubbed the back of her neck, sheepishly. "Calvin, I... I'm gonna miss you."

"... I'll miss you, too." he said, heavily. He held out his hand to shake, but Susie did something that surprised him. She rushed forward, and wrapped her arms around him. Calvin was shocked at first, but after the initial surprise wore off, he returned the embrace.

"You'll keep in touch, won't you?" Susie murmured softly.

"Of course." he replied.

"Promise me you'll write as soon as you get there!"

"I will... I promise." Calvin answered, holding her tighter.

From behind them came the sound of a car honking. "Calvin, let's go!" Calvin's dad called.

Reluctantly, Calvin broke out of the hug with a soft "Goodbye." and ambled into the car. As the vehicle rolled away, Calvin gazed out the back window, keeping his eye on Susie as she grew smaller and smaller. When at last he could no longer see her, he held his face in his palms as tears stung in his eyes. He would remain in this sullen silence through the remainder of the trip.

* * *

Susie watched the car as it pulled away. A pair of tears rolled down her cheeks as the vehicle finally disappeared from sight. She continued staring at the spot where they had vanished, as though watching that spot would somehow make them come back.

As she stood there, her thoughts traveled back to couple weeks earlier. The conversation she had with her mother was brought to mind.

"_Have I ever told you how your father and I met?" her mother asked._

_She sniffed. "You... said you met at a new year's party." _

"_Yes, but what I haven't told you is he didn't live in my hometown."_

"_He... didn't?"_

"_No. He was only there on vacation – visiting relatives, I believe. But he _lived_ on the other side of the country._

"_Now we had spent the whole night talking and we both felt we would like to know each other better. So we exchanged phone numbers and mailing addresses. The point is, just because we lived so far away from each other didn't mean we couldn't keep in touch."_

"Yeah, but you at least lived on the same continent." Susie countered. "There'll be an entire

ocean_ separating us!" _

"_Oh sweetheart." her mother placed her arm around her shoulder. "A little thing like distance doesn't matter. I'm not saying that you two will suddenly meet up again and fall in love, but if you really do care about each other, then you should be able to keep in touch – no matter what."_

"No matter what." Susie repeated as she blinked her tears away. She gazed out at the spot where the car had vanished. "This is not over, Calvin Mitchell." she said. "Whatever it takes – no matter how long, I _will_ see you again!... I promise you that!"

* * *

**A/N:** So now you know the whole story.

Anyway, I'm thinking I'll give it another week or so before I make the final decision for what my next story will be. So this is your last chance to cast your vote for what you want to see next.

Also, I'm thinking about revisiting some of the chapters of _The Best Seven Years_ – particularly the earlier ones – bringing them up to par with the rest of the other chapters and make them more compliant with _In Love And War_.

So for now, this is Blu Taiger saying _see yez!_


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